[Jeff Joseph]

My wife has MDS and is transfusion dependent. So far, none of the drugs (such as Revlimid) have helped the underlying disease; the transfusions of RBC make her feel much better, however.

Question: How do doctor's decide how many units of packed cells to give a patient? I get the feeling that they look at the HGB value, check the patient's weight, and go to a (perhaps mental) chart that says "2 units" or whatever. Is there an actual formula that is used to determine how much to give in a given situation?

Thanks,

Jeff Joseph