“…Levine et al [14] evaluated the effects of withholding transfusion or lowering the transfusion trigger on long-term survival in unanesthetized baboons, and suggested that the reduction of the transfusion trigger to a hematocrit of 15% could show cardiac compensation and would be safe in a normal heart. The cardiac infarction rat model tolerated a hematocrit of 25% [15], and the myocardial depression model tolerated a hematocrit of 20% [16]. Singbartl et al [17] continuously analyzed the ST segment of the electrocardiogram during hemodilutional anemia in ASA I-III patients undergoing orthopedic surgery.…”