Therapeutic Phlebotomy

Therapeutic phlebotomy is the drawing of a unit of blood in specific medical conditions such as hemochromatosis, polycythemia vera and porphyria cutanea tarda, performed to reduce the number of red blood cells or the level of iron in the blood. For hereditary hemochromatosis, in which the body absorbs and stores excess iron, phlebotomy has become the mainstay treatment, offering a cost-effective way to deplete the iron overload. It is practiced by specifically trained practitioners in hospitals using modern techniques and is considered a relatively safe procedure, distinct from the indiscriminate bloodletting of premodern medicine, which was based on humoral theory rather than a specific measurable disease process and often caused infection, anemia or shock.