Hyperbaric oxygen therapy in the management of severe acute anaemia in a Jehovah's witness.

Abstract

A case is described in which a Jehovah’s Witness patient who refused blood transfusion suffered massive antepartum haemorrhage, her haemoglobin falling as low as 2.0 g.dl(-1). She was treated on an intensive care unit with intermittent positive pressure ventilation and general supportive measures, pulsed hyperbaric oxygen therapy and recombinant human erythropoietin.