Effect of large volume red blood cell apheresis on cardiovascular functions in healthy donors.

BACKGROUND: Requirements of blood transfusions rise rapidly in China. Improving the efficiency of blood donation could help maintaining sufficient blood supplement. We conducted a pilot research to investigate the reliability and safety of collecting more units of red blood cell by apheresis. METHODS: Thirty-two healthy male volunteers were randomized into two groups: red blood cell apheresis (RA) (n = 16) and whole blood (WB) donation (n = 16). RA group donated individualized RBC volumes by apheresis according to the volunteers' basal total blood volumes and haematocrit levels, WB group donated 400 mL whole blood. All volunteers were scheduled seven visit times in 8 weeks' study period. The cardiovascular functions were assessed by laboratory examinations, echocardiography and cardiopulmonary functional tests. All results were compared between groups at the same visit time and compared between visit 1(before donation) and other visit times within the same group. RESULTS: The average donated RBC volume in RA group and in WB group was 627.25 ± 109.74 mL and 175.28 ± 8.85 mL, respectively(p < 0.05); the RBC, haemoglobin and haematocrit levels changed significantly between times and between groups (p < 0.05). Cardiac biomarker levels such as NT-proBNP, hs-TnT and CK-MB did not change significantly between times or between groups (p > 0.05). The echocardiographic and cardiopulmonary results did not change significantly between times or between groups during the whole study period(p > 0.05). CONCLUSIONS: We provided an efficient and secure method for RBC apheresis. By harvesting more RBC volumes at one single-time, the cardiovascular functions did not change significantly compared with traditional whole blood donation.

[Modern medical explanation on Ashi points].

According to the comparison between Ashi points and trigger points, a modern medical explanation that trigger points could be considered as a special Ashi points was put forward, and a further investigation on the enlightenment of theory and practice of trigger points to the pathological specificity, positioning and the intervention methods of trigger points was as follows: Ashi points could be central trigger points, whose pathology is degeneration and contracture of sarcomere; it is not always in the area of pain, while the signs of pain may be helpful for its stereotaxic positioning; the intervention methods of Ashi and trigger points can be learned from each other. This is a new angle of view on Ashi points, which has contributed to the exploration and improvement of its theory and practice.