Increased preoperative collection of autologous blood with recombinant human erythropoietin therapy in tertiary care hospitals of Jammu.

Introduction: To study whether the administration of recombinant human erythropoietin increases the amount of autologous blood that can be collected before orthopaedic surgery.

Materials And Methods: We conducted a randomized controlled trial of recombinant human erythropoietin in 68 adults scheduled for elective orthopedic procedures. The patients received either erythropoietin 600 units/kg of body weight or placebo intravenously every 5(th) day prior to each phlebotomy for 21 days during which time up to 5 units of blood was collected.