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LETTER TO THE EDITOR

Allogeneic Blood Transfusion and Wound Healing Disturbance After Orthopaedic Surgery

Department of Anesthesiology, University Hospital Maastricht, Maastricht, The Netherlands, eweber{at}knmg.nl (Weber) Department of Anesthesiology, University Hospital Münster, Münster, Germany (Strümper) Department of Anesthesiology, University of Virginia, Charlottesville, VA (Durieux)

In Response:

We thank Muñoz et al. for their interest and comments on our article (1). As mentioned, numerous factors affect wound healing after surgery and allogeneic blood transfusion. The mechanisms reviewed by Muñoz et al. illustrate additional possible pathways by which wound healing might be impaired after allogeneic blood transfusion in more detail. However, as stated in the article, our study was not designed to investigate the mechanisms behind this phenomenon. With regard to the effects of storage time of the erythrocytes and wound healing disturbances, statistical analysis of our data did not reveal a significant difference in storage time of the transfused packed red blood cells between the two groups (no wound healing disturbances 15.7 ± 7.5d versus wound healing disturbances 16.8 ± 7.1d (data not included in the article).

Reference

1. Weber EWG, Slappendel R, Prins MH, et al. Perioperative blood transfusions and delayed wound healing after hip replacement surgery: effects on duration of hospitalization. Anesth Analg 2005;100:1416–21.[Abstract/Free Full Text]

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