Use of recombinant human erythropoietin to avoid blood transfusion in a Jehovah's Witness requiring hemispherectomy. Case report.

The use of perioperative human recombinant erythropoietin is described in a Jehovah's Witness patient. Despite significant anemia, the child's hematocrit was sufficiently increased by the use of erythropoietin so that a two-stage hemispherectomy could be performed without blood transfusion.