Use of recombinant erythropoietin in surgery--are the costs justified?
Wolff, M.; Fandrey, J.; Jelkmann, W.; Hirner, A.
Langenbecks Archiv für Chirurgie. Supplement. Kongressband. Deutsche Gesellschaft für Chirurgie. Kongress 113: 143-145
1996
ISSN/ISBN: 0942-2854 PMID: 9101815 Document Number: 460933
The combination of autologous blood donation and rHuEPO therapy is rarely justified for medical and economic reasons. Adequate alternative indications for the use of rHuEPO perioperatively have yet to be studied. Therefore, in addition to the increasing costs of safe homologous blood products and the decreasing costs of recombinant proteins, a reevaluation of the cost-effectivity relationship will be mandatory for rHuEPO in surgery.