Evaluation of acute normovolemic hemodilution in patients undergoing intracranial meningioma resection: A quasi-experimental trial

The aim of this study was to evaluate the safety of acute normovolemic hemodilution (ANH) for patients undergoing intracranial meningioma resection. Eighty patients (aged 48–65 years) with American Society of Anesthesiologists physical status I–II undergoing intracranial meningioma resection were included in this prospective observational study. The patients were randomly divided into group A (ANH group), which underwent a combination of ANH and intraoperative cell salvage (ICS), and group B (control group), which underwent ICS alone. The study parameters were recorded as baseline values before blood drainage (T(0)), after blood drainage (T(1)), and before (T(2)) and after (T(3)) retransfusion in group A. Whereas in group B, the same parameters were measured 10 minutes after anesthesia induction (T(0)), before surgery (T(1)), and before (T(2)) and after (T(3)) transfusion of autologous blood. When intraoperative blood loss was <2000 mL, the mean volume of homologous blood transfused in group A patients was 100.8 ± 82.3 mL, compared with the 190.0 ± 91.8 mL in group B. Reduction in homologous blood used in group A was statistically significant (P < .05). In group B, 15.1% patients received homologous blood, whereas only 5.9% patients received homologous blood in group A. The difference in heart rate between both groups at different time points was statistically nonsignificant (P > .05). The mean hemoglobin and hematocrit levels at T(1) and T(2) in group A were lower than in group B (P < .05). The prothrombin time and activated partial thromboplastin time in both groups were prolonged significantly after T(2) (all P < .05), but were all within normal range. There were no significant differences in postoperative hospital stay, mortality, and postoperative infection between the 2 groups. For patients undergoing excision of intracranial meningioma, ANH is an effective procedure to reduce the need for allogeneic transfusions.