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Updated: Jul 13, 2026

Continuous Manual Exchange Transfusion for Patients with Sickle Cell Disease: An Efficient Method to Avoid Iron Overload
Published on: March 14, 2017
Hemopure transfusion in a child with severe anemia
1Tygerberg Children's Hospital, Western Cape Province, South Africa. cs@sun.ac.za
Abstract:
A 23-month-old girl presented with heart failure from extremely severe sickle cell anemia. The family refused blood transfusion on religious grounds (Jehovah's Witness). Alternative options acceptable to this religion, such as iron, erythropoietin, or folic acid were rejected as useless in the particular situation of the child. The patient was transfused with Hemopure, a product that consists of polymerized bovine hemoglobin. This is the first case reported in the literature of a child transfused, in an emergency situation, with this product.
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