bloodless surgery

Bloodless surgery is a non-invasive surgical method developed by orthopedic surgeon, Adolf Lorenz, who was known as "the bloodless surgeon of Vienna". His medical practice was a consequence of his severe allergy to carbolic acid routinely used in operating rooms of the era. His condition forced him to become a "dry surgeon". Contemporary usage of the term refers to both invasive and noninvasive medical techniques and protocols. The expression does not mean surgery that makes no use of blood or blood transfusion. Rather, it refers to surgery performed without transfusion of allogeneic blood. Champions of bloodless surgery do, however, transfuse products made from allogeneic blood (blood from other people) and they also make use of pre-donated blood for autologous transfusion (blood pre-donated by the patient). Interest in bloodless surgery has arisen for several reasons. Jehovah's Witnesses reject blood transfusions on religious grounds; others may be concerned about bloodborne diseases, such as hepatitis and AIDS. History During the early 1960s, American heart surgeon Denton Cooley successfully performed numerous bloodless open-heart surgeries on Jehovah's Witness patients. Fifteen years later, he and his associate published a report of more than 500 cardiac surgeries in this population, documenting that cardiac surgery could be safely performed without blood transfusion. Ron Lapin (1941–1995) was an American surgeon, who became interested in bloodless surgery in the mid-1970s. He was known as a "bloodless surgeon" due to his willingness to perform surgeries on severely anemic Jehovah's Witness patients without the use of blood transfusions. Patricia A. Ford (born 1955) was the first surgeon to perform a bloodless bone marrow transplant.