In response: Not all acute normovolemic hemodilutions are created equal

Abstract

We read with great interest the work by Li et al. 1 The authors hypothesized that red blood cell (RBC) transfusions in orthognathic surgery could be reduced by acute normovolemic hemodilution (ANH); 187 patients were randomly assigned to conventional management or ANH. There is a renewed interest in ANH as part of perioperative multimodal blood conservation strategy. Their study is a welcome addition to the ANH literature; however, further discussion and comment are warranted for the study design and indication of ANH.