Abstract

VARGAS-POTES, Carlos Julio; MENDOZA-URBANO, Diana Marcela; PARRA-LARA, Luis Gabriel  and  R. ZAMBRANO, Ángela. Challenges in the care of Ewing’s sarcoma in a Jehovah’s Witness patient. Biomed. [online]. 2023, vol.43, n.1, pp.44-50.  Epub Mar 30, 2023. ISSN 0120-4157.  https://doi.org/10.7705/biomedica.6720.

Ewing’s sarcoma is a bone and soft tissue neoplasm, whose management is related to hematological toxicity. This aspect represents a medical and ethical challenge in Jehovah’s Witnesses patients, who, due to their religious beliefs, reject the blood component transfusion, with the risk of discontinuing chemotherapy or using suboptimal doses.

We present the case of a 34-year-old Colombian woman, Jehovah’s Witness, diagnosed with Ewing’s sarcoma with clinical stage IIB (T Jehová han criticado esta prácticN0M0) in the left maxillary and mandibular regions, treated with chemotherapy, who presented a hemoglobin nadir of up to 4.5 g/dL, and surgical indication as part of the treatment. In these patients, the transfusion decision has ethical implications that require therapeutic alternatives and a multidisciplinary approach.

Keywords : sarcoma, Ewing; drug therapy; anemia; blood component transfusion.

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