A team at Pittsburgh-based UPMC Presbyterian Hospital performed a heart and kidney transplant without the use of blood products for the first time at the hospital.
The patient could not accept blood products for religious reasons, according to a March 6 news release from the hospital.
To accommodate this need, the team utilized medications to increase the patient’s red blood cells before and during surgery, and monitored any post-surgery blood loss closely.
The patient was discharged about a week after the procedure and has been recovering at home, the release said.