What does it mean?
In therapeutic bleeding, blood is removed from a subject’s vein with abnormally high haemoglobin levels, in order to reduce the volume of the circulating blood. This is for the purpose of reducing blood density and the risk of stroke.
The therapeutic bleeding schedule provides about 500ml of blood in intervals from a few days to weeks or months. After the removal of the amount of blood, normal saline is used to avoid underarming. Therapeutic bleeding intervals are determined by the doctor according to the haemoglobin levels.
Βlood units derived from therapeutic bleeds are not used and discarded in special waste.
Important questions:
Answer all the questions carefully, to assess possible risk factors:
Suffering from heart or lung disease:
Do you have diabetes:
Suffering from any chronic disease (kidney failure etc.)
Any possibility of being pregnant:
Risks – Potential Complications:
Τhere may be some bleeding or inflammation at the point of entry of the venous catheter. Μore serious risks are rare.
