Surgery Among jehovah's witnesses

OBJECTIVES: The study aimed to analyze the efficacy of the blood management protocol developed by our team for patients who are Jehovah's Witnesses (JW) presenting for primary total hip replacement (THR). PATIENTS AND METHODS: Thirty JW patients (6 males, 24 females; mean age: 70.1±9.8 years; range, 65 to 81 years) and 30 age- and sex-matched controls (6 males, 24 females; mean age: 68.7±9.1 years; range, 62 to 79 years) who underwent primary THR at our institution between January 2018 and June 2020 were retrospectively evaluated...

BACKGROUND: Strategies for blood conservation, coupled with a careful preoperative assessment, may be applied to Jehovah's Witnesses (JW) patients who are candidates for cardiac surgery interventions. There is a need to assess clinical outcomes and safety of bloodless surgery in JW patients undergoing cardiac surgery. METHODS: We performed a systematic review and meta-analysis of studies comparing JW patients with controls undergoing cardiac surgery. The primary endpoint was short-term mortality (in-hospital or 30-day mortality)...

CASE: A 68-year-old Jehovah's Witness (JW) presented with pelvic discontinuity 9 years after right total hip arthroplasty. Her pelvis was previously irradiated for cervical cancer. Meticulous hemostasis, blood conserving strategies, and a prophylactic arterial balloon catheter were used to mitigate bleeding. She underwent an uneventful revision total hip arthroplasty with excellent functional recovery and radiographic evaluation at 1 year postoperatively. CONCLUSION: Pelvic discontinuity in a JW with irradiated bone makes for a challenging revision arthroplasty with high bleeding risk...

OBJECTIVE: To determine the effect of severe acute blood loss anemia (ABLA) on postoperative outcomes in Jehovah's Witness (JW) patients undergoing cardiac surgery. DESIGN: This was a retrospective cohort study of adult JW patients undergoing cardiac surgery requiring cardiopulmonary bypass (CPB) between January 1998 and December 2018 at Barnes-Jewish Hospital in St. Louis, Missouri. SETTING: At a single tertiary academic center. PARTICIPANTS: Patients who were JWs undergoing cardiac surgery requiring CPB...

BACKGROUND: The paucity of literature on surgical outcomes of Jehovah's Witness (JW) patients undergoing lung resection suggests some patients with operable lung cancers may be denied resection. The aim of this study is to better understand perioperative outcomes and long-term cancer survival of JW patients undergoing lung resection. METHODS: All pulmonary resections in JW patients at one institution from 2000 through 2020 were examined. Demographics, comorbidities, operative parameters, and perioperative outcomes were reviewed...

OBJECTIVES: To describe the safety and feasibility of urological transfusion-free surgeries in Jehovah's Witness patients. METHODS: An institutional review board-approved, retrospective review of Jehovah's Witness patients who underwent urological transfusion-free surgeries between 2003 and 2019 was carried out. Surgeries were stratified into low, intermediate and high risk based on complexity, invasiveness and bleeding potential. Patient demographics, perioperative data and clinical outcomes are reported...

OBJECTIVE: The aim of this research is to present our experiences with the surgical treatment of gynecological patients among Jehovahs Witnesses. Moreover, the medical, moral, and ethical problems in this regard have been highlighted. METHODS: 75 Jehovahs Witnesses patients were operated on for various benign and malignant gynecological diseases between 2007 and 2018. All of these patients were operated on according to the rules of blood-sparing surgery. RESULTS: The operations were assessed according to the dia-gnosis, mode of surgery, estimated blood loss, and disease outcome...

When an incapacitated Jehovah's Witness neurologically deteriorates and requires immediate craniectomy, institutional protocols may delay surgery if the patient's refusal of blood products is ambiguous. We are among the first to describe such an ethically contentious case in emergency neurosurgery, review the morbidity of operative delays, discuss medicolegal concerns raised, and provide a detailed guide to hemostasis in patients who refuse blood products. We discuss the case of a 46-year-old woman presented with nausea, vomiting, and right-sided weakness, progressing to stupor over several hours...

BACKGROUND: Patients who refuse allogeneic blood transfusions (alloBT) on the basis of religious doctrine, such as Jehovah's Witnesses (JWs), can pose a challenge when undergoing surgical procedures. During cardiac surgery, special considerations regarding surgical techniques and blood loss minimization strategies can lead to improved outcomes. Limited literature exists to guide the use of four-factor prothrombin complex concentrate (4PCC) in this patient population undergoing cardiac surgery...

The number of Jehovah's Witnesses worldwide is estimated at approximately 8.6 million. As Jehovah's Witnesses refuse administration of blood and blood-derived products on religious grounds, transfusion of red blood cells is not an option. It is especially problematic when anaemia develops acutely, as in non-elective surgery, as there is no time to optimise volume of red blood cells preoperatively. We present a case of an 86-year-old woman who underwent non-elective laparoscopic cholecystectomy due to gangrenous cholecystitis...

BACKGROUND: Bloodless pancreatic surgery (BPS) is rarely performed and/or reported. We aim to characterize perioperative and anesthetic strategies in BPS. MATERIALS AND METHODS: A literature search was performed on MEDLINE looking for case reports/case series using search terms ("Jehovah's Witness" [All Fields]) AND ("Pancreatic Surgery" [All Fields] OR "Pancreaticoduodenectomy" [All Fields] OR "Distal Pancreatectomy" [All Fields])...

Rates of blood transfusion are reported as high as 32% in women undergoing major gynecologic cancer surgery. Therefore, care of the gynecologic oncology patient who refuses blood products, such as Jehovah's witnesses, can pose a unique challenge. The objective of this study was to determine rate of adverse post-operative outcomes within 30 days of surgery in Jehovah's witnesses with gynecologic cancer. This was a retrospective cohort study of Jehovah's witnesses undergoing laparotomy or minimally invasive surgery (MIS) for gynecologic cancer at a single institution...

STUDY OBJECTIVE: To describe the perioperative blood conservation strategies and postoperative outcomes in patients who undergo complex spinal surgery for tumor resection and who also refuse blood product transfusion. DESIGN: A retrospective case series. SETTING: A single-center, tertiary care and academic teaching hospital in Canada. PATIENTS: All adult patients undergoing elective major spine tumor resection and refusing blood product transfusion who were referred to our institutional Blood Utilization Program between June 1, 2004, and May 9, 2014...

No abstract text is available yet for this article.

OBJECTIVES: Increasing evidence suggests benefits from restrictive red blood cell transfusion (RBC) thresholds in major surgery and critically ill patients. However, these benefits are not obvious in cardiac surgery patients with intraoperative anemia. The authors examined the association between uncorrected hemoglobin (Hb) levels and selected postoperative outcomes as well as the effects of RBCs. DESIGN: Cohort study with prospectively collected data from a cardiac surgery registry...

BACKGROUND: Criteria for selecting patients with advanced cancer for palliative surgery (PS) remains poorly defined. Decision making for PS requires realistic treatment goals with well-defined criteria. Here we discuss a 71-year-old Jehovah's Witness with advanced stage renal cell carcinoma (RCC) who presented with profound anemia due to intractable bleeding from gastric metastasis. After repeated attempts with endoscopic and angiographic management, she underwent surgical palliation...

The Jehovah's Witness religion is a Christian movement, founded in the US in the 1870s, with 7 million followers worldwide with only 0.002% in India. There is minimal to complete absence of awareness about the existence of this community in our society. Astonishing is that fact that among medical professionals, there is almost no awareness about this unique population, regarding the fact that they completely refuse of blood transfusion even if it leads to their death. This is integral to their faith. Besides legal and ethical issues in treating these group of patients, the biggest challenge exist even in the western world is their management in trauma scenario where few options exist...

Primary total hip arthroplasty (THA) and revision THA are associated with blood loss that can be significant. The purpose of this retrospective study was to compare the efficacy of intra-arterial occlusive balloons in reducing blood loss during primary and revision THA. Twelve patients (Jehovah’s Witnesses) scheduled for a primary (n=6) or revision (n=6) THA who refused blood transfusions were compared with 48 control-matched patients (primary THA, n=24; revision THA, n=24). All Jehovah’s Witnesses received an intra-arterial balloon preoperatively, and all control patients underwent conventional surgery...

BACKGROUND: The Soonchunhyang University Hospital Bloodless Center was established in 2000, and more than 2000 bloodless surgeries has been performed there since. This study was carried out to analyze the characteristics of patients who underwent bloodless surgery and the influences of postoperative lowest hemoglobin level (H(blow)) along with the lowest postoperative Hb/preoperative Hb ratio (H(blow/pre)) on successful completion of bloodless surgery. STUDY DESIGN AND METHODS: A total of 1407 patients were included...

BACKGROUND: Jehovah's Witness patients (Witnesses) who undergo cardiac surgery provide a unique natural experiment in severe blood conservation because anemia, transfusion, erythropoietin, and antifibrinolytics have attendant risks. Our objective was to compare morbidity and long-term survival of Witnesses undergoing cardiac surgery with a similarly matched group of patients who received transfusions. METHODS: A total of 322 Witnesses and 87 453 non-Witnesses underwent cardiac surgery at our center from January 1, 1983, to January 1, 2011...