1. Iv iron and your heart operation

2. Having heart surgery may result in you receiving a blood transfusion, because your blood count is low.
50% of patients having heart surgery require a blood transfusion. Anaemia make you more at risk of this

3. Approximately 40% of patients that require heart surgery are anaemic (have a low blood count). The main cause of this is iron deficiency.

4. If you require a blood transfusion around the time of your operation, you may have a longer stay on the Cardiac Intensive Care Unit. To try and prevent this, we will be giving IV Iron to patients before their operation.

5. You will be offered intravenous (into the vein) Iron prior to your surgery. This will increase your blood count so that you are less likely to need a blood transfusion perioperatively. This will involve a trip to the Cardiac Day Case Unit for a couple of hours.

6. Why avoid a blood transfusion?
Blood transfusions are not without risk. Complications such as reaction and infection are a rare but real risk. Blood should be reserved for emergencies and by optimising your blood count you will likely avoid a transfusion so that blood can be used for emergencies Avoiding a transfusion allows you to be a donor in the future

7. Research is currently taking place in the University Hospital of Wales, to further look at the benefits of iron, and you may be asked to participate.

8. Please take a leaflet that explains all aspects of the study