At USC University Hospital and the USC/Norris Comprehensive Cancer Center and Hospital, we are committed to offering patients a choice in their care. We understand that many patients choose not to accept blood products, and we respectfully accommodate this choice.

Our Transfusion-Free Medicine and Surgery Program is designed to meet the individual needs of patients who do not wish to receive blood transfusions. In our academically based program at the University of Southern California School of Medicine, physicians and surgeons from many disciplines perform innovative techniques that minimize blood loss, thereby avoiding the need for blood products including red blood cells, platelets and plasma.

Transfusion-Free Medicine & Surgery requires special expertise--expertise that is found at the Keck School of Medicine of USC.

All of the physicians and surgeons who participate in the Transfusion-Free Medicine & Surgery Program are USC faculty members, offering advanced tertiary/quaternary care. Patients benefit directly from the academic affiliation, receiving access to the latest medical advances.

Advanced Skills and Technology

Alternatives to blood transfusions have been made possible through advances in medical and surgical techniques and technology. Blood loss can be minimized through:

• Using cautery and lasers rather than scalpels.
• Stimulating bone marrow to produce red blood cells in advance of a procedure.
• Enhancing circulation of the patient's own blood during surgery through volume expanders or intravenous fluids.
• Tracking oxygen levels during surgery with skin monitors.
• Using cellsavers during surgery to collect, recirculate and readminister the patient's own blood.Speeding blood clotting during surgery with an argon beam coagulator.
• Utilizing intraoperative hypotension anesthesia to lower blood pressure during surgery, minimizing bleeding.

Participating Medical and Surgical Specialties

The medical staff at both USC University Hospital and the Norris Comprehensive Cancer Center and Hospital are faculty of the USC School of Medicine. Many of them are recognized as international leaders in their fields who provide tertiary/quaternary medical and surgical services for patients from around the world.

With Dignity and Respect

In just three short years, Nicolas Jabbour, M.D. and Randy Henderson have taken the USC Transfusion-Free Medicine and Surgery Program from an intriguing idea to one of the most well-recognized centers in the country. Through his experience with patients who do not want to take blood products, Dr. Jabbour says he has not only obtained a deeper understanding of the religious beliefs of some patients but has also come to ardently believe in the importance of minimizing blood loss for all patients, at all times.