Masimo Corporation: Published Study Demonstrates Patients with Low Hemoglobin Levels Can be Managed Without Blood Transfusions

IRVINE, Calif., Feb. 18 /PRNewswire-FirstCall/ -- A comparison study of nearly 1,900 patients published in Perfusion, a peer-reviewed academic journal, questions the long-standing practice of basing blood transfusion decisions on a single low hematocrit measurement result. In the study, titled Is it the Patient or the Physician who Cannot Tolerate Anemia?, researchers showed that a single measure of hematocrit is not a reliable indicator of transfusion need and that lower-than-normal hemoglobin levels have no adverse impact on patients. The study showed that a blood transfusion is largely administered because the physician deems it necessary, not because of quantified changes in the patient's physiology.