A four-year-old boy was admitted for closure of a congenital ventricular septal defect. As the boy's parents were Jehovah's Witnesses, transfusion of blood was proscribed. Cardiopulmonary bypass was achieved using a Variable Prime Cobe Membrane Lung (VPCML). Extreme haemodilution was experienced, during bypass the haematocrit fell to a level of 8%. The haematocrit rose over the next two days to 22% and the patient made a full recovery.
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