Erythropoietin and preoperative blood donation

To the Editor: Goodnough and colleagues (Oct. 26 issue)¹ demonstrate that recombinant human erythropoietin increases the number of red cells that may be obtained when 4 or more units of blood are collected within a 21-day period. Because red cells collected for transfusion may be stored in a liquid state for as long as six weeks, it is usually unnecessary to restrict the donation period before surgery to three weeks. Although we acknowledge that certain patients (e.g., some scheduled for coronary-artery bypass grafting) may be better served by minimizing the time before elective surgery, most patients can take advantage of.