Transfusion of polymerised human haemoglobin in a patient with severe sickle-cell anaemia

Many patients with sickle-cell anaemia have red-cell alloantibodies. We could not obtain compatible blood for a 40-year-old woman with a sickle-cell crisis after a hip operation. We transfused a polymerised human haemoglobin solution, after which the patientʹs pain was alleviated. This treatment, in combination with erythropoietin, resulted in a rise in our patientʹs haemoglobin concentration, and her eventual recovery. Increased oxygen delivery to the microcirculation might have contributed to the rapid resolution of pain after the transfusion.