Patients can lose enough blood during hip replacement surgery to require blood transfusions.
Transfusions of blood from other people always carry a small risk for infection or transfusion reactions. Erythropoietin is a protein made by the kidney that stimulates the bone marrow to make red blood cells. It is also manufactured as a drug called epoetin alfa. Giving a person epoetin alfa to build up their blood before hip replacement surgery decreases the need for transfusion. However, the best dose and timing of epoetin alfa treatment before surgery are not known.