Growing numbers of patients want to avoid using donor blood during medical and surgical procedures. Some wish to do so for religious reasons; other, to minimize the risk of infection and virtually eliminate the threat of blood-borne illnesses. 

MCG’s Bloodless Medicine and Surgery Program allows many patients to access high quality care, without blood transfusions. The first and only program of its kind in the area, it focuses on minimizing blood loss before, during and after care, and reducing or eliminating the need for blood transfusions. Since the program’s founding in 2004, it has served hundreds of patients from around the state.

According to Loretta Humes, R.N., nurse coordinator and  director of the program, the term “bloodless medicine” encompasses everything from micro-sampling, or drawing the smallest amount of blood possible for testing, to reducing blood loss during surgery. 

Thanks to advances in equipment, technology and medical training, physicians and surgeons can now successfully perform many procedures – from routine appendectomies to open-heart surgeries, without blood transfusions.

The procedures are performed by specially trained physicians using advanced medical technology, products and techniques, including:  

• Volume expanders. These intravenous fluids enhance the circulation of a patient’s own blood without the use of blood products.
• Pharmaceuticals that stimulate the bone marrow to make blood cells and promote coagulation
• Equipment that salvages, filters and re-circulates the patient’s own blood 
• Special surgical tools that reduce blood loss
• Blood conservation techniques to lower the patient’s blood pressure and temperature during surgery  

Bloodless Medicine Treatments
 The MCG Bloodless Medicine and Surgery Program can provide non-blood medical and surgical care for many specialties, including:

• cancer/cancer surgery
• cardiology/cardiovascular surgery
• gastroenterology
• general surgery
• hematology
• intensive care management
• neurosurgery
• obstetrics
• orthopaedics
• otolaryngology (ear, nose and throat)
• plastic and reconstructive surgery
• urologic surgery
• vascular surgery

The program is managed by experienced physicians and is available 24 hours a day.

For more information or a referral to a physician who specializes in bloodless medicine,
call 706-721-CARE (2273)

Learn more about
MCG Bloodless Medicine and Surgery Program