Impact of intraoperative normovolemic hemodilution on transfusion requirements for 68 patients undergoing lumbar laminectomies with instrumented posterolateral fusion.

Study Design: To determine whether the normovolemic hemodilution (NH) technique would limit postoperative homologous blood transfusion requirements in 68 patients having multilevel lumbar laminectomies (3-6 levels) with predominant 1- or 2-level instrumented fusions.

Objective: In this setting, to define postoperative homologous blood transfusion requirements using NH.

Summary Of Background Data: NH limits postoperative homologous blood transfusion requirements following various types of surgical procedures including those on the spine.