Refusal of blood transfusion by Jehovah's Witness women: a survey of current management in obstetric and gynaecological practice in the U.K.

BACKGROUND: Refusal of blood transfusion by Jehovah's Witness (JW) women poses potential problems for obstetrics worldwide as haemorrhage remains a major cause of maternal morbidity and mortality. There is a general consensus that morbidity and mortality rates in association with childbirth and gynaecological interventions are higher in these women than in the general population. We conducted a postal questionnaire survey of current practice among U.K. consultant obstetricians and gynaecologists to establish the practices that could contribute to poor outcomes in these women. MATERIALS AND METHODS: The main variables of interest were: use of a multi-disciplinary approach; the acceptable minimum haemoglobin (Hb) concentration before vaginal delivery and abdominal hysterectomy as low to medium risk scenarios and open myomectomy as a high risk scenario for haemorrhage; Hb concentration thresholds for iron supplementation; and the use of oral iron, intravenous iron, erythropoietin and cell salvage as potential management tools. RESULTS: The response rate was 28%. Sixty percent of gynaecologists and 85% of obstetricians reported having a protocol for the management of JW women. Forty-six percent of consultants adopt a multi-disciplinary approach which include anaesthetists and haematologists. A Hb concentration of >11-12 g/dL is considered the minimum acceptable level by a majority (47%) prior to normal delivery and by 42% of gynaecologists prior to abdominal hysterectomy. For open myomectomy 28% of gynaecologists prefer a minimum level of 11-12 g/dL but a further 31% of gynaecologists prefer a minimum level of 12-13 g/dL. DISCUSSION: A small but substantial proportion of consultants do not have protocols, operate on JW women with low Hb concentrations, do not use a lower Hb concentration threshold for supplementation, and do not adopt a multi-disciplinary approach, all of which could contribute to the reported poor outcomes in these women.

Percutaneous laser ablation in patients with isolated unresectable liver metastases from colorectal cancer: Results of a phase II study.

We prospectively evaluated the safety, local tumor control, and impact on survival parameters of percutaneous laser ablation (PLA) in patients with colorectal liver metastases not amenable to surgical resection. The study included 44 individuals with 75 unresectable liver metastases and no known extrahepatic disease. The median number of metastases treated for each patient was one, with a range of 1-4. Metastases had a median diameter of 3.4 cm (range 0.5-9 cm), and a median volume of 16.8 cm(3) (range 0.4-176.4 cm(3)). All patients also received systemic chemotherapy with modalities that differed according to the type of response to PLA. After treatment, 61% (46/75) of the tumors were ablated completely. The likelihood of achieving a complete ablation was significantly higher when metastases had a diameter <3.0 cm (p = 0.004). Overall survival was 30.0+/-12.7 months in patients with a complete ablation, and 20.2+/-10.2 months in those with a partial ablation (p = 0.002). There were no major complications during or after PLA, the most frequent side effect being abdominal pain that required analgesics. These findings indicate that PLA can be safely used as an adjunct to chemotherapy in unresectable colorectal liver metastases, and may have a positive impact on survival.