Blood banks face a perpetual supply shortage, but a clot-promoting agent known as recombinant activated factor VII (FVIIa) might offer a new means to staunch the demand for blood. When administered during surgery, the lab-generated enzyme can reduce a patient’s bleeding and need for transfusions, a new study indicates.
Dutch surgeons tested the drug or a placebo in 36 men undergoing removal of cancerous or seriously enlarged prostate glands.
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