Hemoglobin value reduction and necessity of transfusion in bimaxillary orthognathic surgery

It has been the aim of the present clinical study to assess the reduction of the hemoglobin value and the frequency of blood transfusions during bimaxillary orthognathic surgery and to discuss the clinical consequences.

Fifty-six patients (31 female, 25 male; mean age, 28.6 +/- 13.0 years; range, 14 to 66 years) were operated on. Twenty-nine patients predeposited blood before surgery. As a threshold for intraoperative or postoperative transfusion, a hemoglobin value of 7.5 g/100 mL was chosen.

Perioperatively, the hemoglobin values of the patients who predeposited blood decreased significantly after blood donation. The hemoglobin value reduced postoperatively by 2.6 +/- 1.4 g/100 mL in the non-donors and by 2.6 +/- 1.1 g/mL in the donors. None of the patients who did not predeposit blood received homologous blood transfusions intraoperatively or postoperatively. In the group of patients who predeposited blood, 3 were transfused intraoperatively. They received 1 or 2 units of autologous blood.

The individual statistics of the department show that there was only a limited reduction of the intraoperative and postoperative hemoglobin values as a consequence of bimaxillary orthognathic surgery. The increased safety of homologous blood and the minimal transfusion rates support abandonment of routine predepositing of autologous blood and the acceptance of homologous blood in the rare case of transfusion in bimaxillary surgery.