Health news

Reusing a patient’s own blood

In heart surgery, a patient’s own red blood cells may be a better choice than blood transfusion.

Transfusions of donated blood can be lifesaving, but a number of studies have found it can also increase the risk of infections and other problems. An alternative is collecting and reusing a patient’s own blood during the operation.

For the study, published online in Anesthesia & Analgesia, 12 heart surgery patients were given only their own salvaged red blood cells, while 20 other patients were given their own cells plus varying amounts of stored donated blood.

Over the next three days, the researchers measured the flexibility of the cells’ membranes, an indicator of blood cell health.

Those who got their own fresh red blood cells had no changes in flexibility. But getting stored blood was associated with cell membrane stiffening. The more donated blood patients received, the longer it took for their cells to return to normal.

“Most surgeries don’t require transfusion,” said the senior author, Dr. Steven M. Frank, an associate professor of anesthesiology at Johns Hopkins University. “But for specific types of surgery, it appears that salvaging your own blood results in a higher quality transfusion.”

The cell salvage device costs about $35,000, but a single use costs about $120, compared with $240 for a transfusion.

When Fewer Meals Are Better

For people with Type 2 diabetes, eating two large meals a day may be better than consuming the same number of calories in six small meals.

Some diabetes experts recommend small meals as a better way to control metabolism; others believe eating three larger meals is better. Some believe it makes little difference one way or the other.

Czech researchers randomly assigned 54 diabetics ages 30 to 70 to a 12-week diet of either two or six meals a day. Both groups ate the same number of daily calories. Then the groups switched diets for another 12 weeks. The study appears online in Diabetologia.

The differences were not dramatic, but compared with those eating six meals a day, those who ate just breakfast and lunch reduced their weight and waist circumference. Those eating fewer meals also had improved fasting glucose levels, lower liver fat content and better insulin sensitivity.

New York Times Service