Primary outcome
Patients in group A had significantly higher Hb levels (108.4±11.4 g/L) than those in groups B and C (107.8±8.4 and 103.9±8.8 g/L, respectively) on the day after surgery, and the Hb level in group B was also higher than that in group C (p=0.0202). However, on postoperative day 3, no significant difference was found between groups B and C in Hb levels (97.4±10.5 and 93.5±10.8 g/L, respectively) (p=0.1192), even if the Hb level in group A (102.2±10.9 g/L) was still markedly higher than that in groups B and C. No difference was found among the three groups at other time points. (Fig. 2).
In terms of blood loss, no significant difference was found in intraoperative blood loss among groups A, B and C (88.6±19.5, 90.7±23.4, and 87.2±22.6 ml, respectively) (p=0.679), but on postoperative day one, the calculated blood loss was greater in groups B and C (378.9±123.1 and 436.4±147.4 ml, respectively) than in group A (313.4±118.5 ml) (p<0.05), and group C had more blood loss than group B (p=0.044). Regarding total blood loss, groups B and C had more total blood loss (611.0±227.5 and 751.4±301.5 ml, respectively) than group A (498.1±197.3 ml) (P<0.05), and group C had more blood loss than group B (p<0.01) (Table 2). There was no report allogeneic transfusion during the trial in any of the three groups.