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With increasing demands for blood transfusions, the costs and shortages, clinically relevant risks and doubts on the efficacy, blood conservation is an important issues. Among the available methods cell salvage is of great importance as it has proven effective and safe. The high availability and cost efficacy allows fast processing of at least half of the lost red blood cells. The method has wide applications in cardiac and vascular surgery, in abdominal and transplantation surgery, in orthopedics and emergency medicine, in massive hemorrhage and for Jehovah's Witnesses, and by the use of blood irradiation also in cancer surgery. Cell salvage provides autologous, washed, unstored red blood cells with unimpaired function and viability, avoiding immunological reactions and storage damage, for optimal hemotherapy. No restrictions in the indication for transfusion are necessary, thus allowing real therapy of anemia. The high quality of salvaged blood should be assured by a quality management including quality controls.

Background: Preoperative autologous blood donation is an effective method to reduce allogeneic transfusion requirement. However, this method is only rarely utilized in cardiac surgery. Besides economic concerns one essential argument against predonation is the lack of sufficient time due to the short waiting lists. The aim of the present study was to investigate the efficacy of autologous predonation to reduce allogeneic blood transfusion in routine cardiac surgery on a center without longer preoperative waiting lists., Patients and Methods: A total of 2,626 cardiac surgery patients were included. Primary endpoint of the study was the perioperative incidence of allogeneic packed cell transfusion. If time between diagnosis and admission to the hospital was >10 days, predonation was offered to the patients. Data were stratified for preoperative risk score. Logistic and linear regression analysis tested the influence of different variables on the incidence of allogeneic blood transfusion and the total amount of allogeneic blood., Results: Of all patients 267 (11.2%) underwent predonation. The incidence of allogeneic packed cell transfusion was reduced from 53% to 19% by autologous predonation (p<0.001). The total amount of allogeneic blood transfused was significantly different between the groups (2.2+/-4.2 vs. 0.84+/-6.3 units; p<0.001)., Discussion: Autologous predonation in cardiac surgery was effective in reducing blood transfusions even in the absence of longer preoperative waiting times. It is a safe and effective method to minimize blood transfusion in cardiac surgery.

Objective of the Study: The most common form of autologous blood transfusion is where blood is donated in anticipation of elective surgery. The aim of this study is to critically evaluate the product safety of autologous blood units., Methods: The results are based on an analysis of the documented data and records of 22,630 cases with 21,553 patients and 49,650 autologous blood donations, blood processing and testing protocols, and reported transfusion reactions following autologous transfusions., Results and Conclusions: Autologous blood components are prepared individually, and an established system of quality assurance with controls of processes and products is particularly important to meet quality standards. The red cell content of autologous units cannot be standardized as in allogeneic components. Due to the differences between the laboratory screening programmes for patients and donors, the risk of transmission of virus infections is different from that of allogeneic blood components. The quality of stored autologous red cells is comparable to that of allogeneic products. Results of systematic sterility monitoring lead to the conclusion that under the conditions practised the risk of transfusion-associated sepsis is not higher to that of allogeneic products. Soluble biological response modifiers which accumulate during storage, are assumed to be the cause of reactions that occur in one of 4,500 autologous transfusions. Incorrect allocation and handling errors continue to be a serious problem in autologous transfusions.

Also intraoperative blood salvage (IBS) requires a system for quality management with controls of product an process quality. These can help early detection of malfunctions. For proper reaction and for improvement of quality a deep understanding of the process of blood salvage is necessary. This is supported by experimental testing of equipment, programs, and process variables, and by analysis of their effects on the process. The use of fresh whole blood and total protein as wash-out parameter in these tests is superior to outdated banked RBC and free haemoglobin. The process of aspiration turns out much less harmful than expected, when tested with fresh blood. Low wash volumes, fast washing rates, and half full bowls should be avoided. Plasma wash-out is improved by slower washing or by higher wash volumes, but the latter decrease RBC recovery. Such quality management helps to provide blood of excellent quality by IBS for optimal haemotherapy.

Unlabelled: Disorders in blood coagulation during the use of autotransfusion have been reported in recent literature. We wondered whether or not heparine, remaining in the prepared sample of retransfusion blood might be responsible for these disturbances., Methods: Therefore we created a setting in which heparine was added to animal blood in order to imitate clinical situations during the use of the CELL SAVER., Results: According to our results the blood shows no irregular heparine load as long as the machine is used following the operating instructions. But if the volume of rinsing liquid is decreased or the pumpflow is increased, the heparine load is increased enormously (Table 1)., Conclusions: If the CELL SAVER is used with reduced volume of rinsing liquid or higher velocity of the pump, the coagulation status of the patient has to be monitored meticously.

History and Clinical Findings: A 56-year-old woman was admitted for replacement of a previously implanted right hip prosthesis which had become loose (no infection). She limped painfully on a shortened leg whose mobility was markedly impaired. At the site of the previous operation the pelvis was lower by about 2 cm; the scar looked well healed., Investigations: Routine laboratory tests were normal except for moderately raised erythrocyte sedimentation rate (18/ 27 mm). There was complete loosening of the prosthesis on X-ray., Treatment and Course: Intraoperative bleeding from a branch of the inferior gluteal artery required blood transfusion and further erythrocyte infusions became necessary. Jaundice developed on the 4th postoperative day and 7 days later the direct Coombs test was positive with demonstrable agglutination. Free irregular erythrocytic anti-Kidd(a) (anti-jk[a]) antibodies were found in the serum. To counteract the delayed haemolytic transfusion reaction, exclusively jk(a)-negative erythrocytes were infused. The jaundice gradually disappeared and the bilirubin values became normal., Conclusion: Jaundice and signs of haemolysis after erythrocyte transfusion may be due to delayed transfusion reaction and should be investigated with the direct Coombs test.

Unlabelled: Intraoperative autotransfusion is contraindicated in cancer surgery because of the possible risk of systemic tumor spread. The aim of the present study was to investigate whether a cell saver in combination with a white blood cell depletion filter can remove osteosarcoma cells., Methods: A defined number of osteosarcoma cells from an established cell line were added to red cell concentrates and Ringer solution. The tumor cell concentration was 1000/ ml in the first five experiments, 7111/ml in test no. 6, 1667/ml in test no. 7 and 167/ml in test no. 8. Following thorough mixing, each unit was processed separately by a cell saver (DIDECO BT 795/P) in its normal operation mode to produce a red cell concentrate. This red cell concentrate was filtered using a leukocyte depletion filter (PALL BPF 4). Samples were taken before and after processing with the autotransfuser and after filtration with the white cell depletion filter. Cytospin specimens from all samples were examined for osteosarcoma cells by three different methods (Papanicolaou stain, Vimentin antibodies, DNA analysis)., Results: After processing with the autotransfuser, tumor cells were identified in the red cell concentrate. No osteosarcoma cells were evident after the combined use of cell saver and leukocyte depletion filter., Conclusion: The sole use of the autotransfuser DIDECO BT 795/P during osteosarcoma surgery is not recommended because of the potential danger of retransfusion of malignant cells. In combination with the leukocyte depletion filter PALL BPF 4, no osteosarcoma cells were identified in the red cell concentrate. Since the adhesiveness of tumor cells from established cell lines may be different from that of tumor cells in the intraoperative salvaged blood, further studies with blood from the surgical field are necessary to determine the efficacy of white cell depletion filters to eliminate osteosarcoma cells.

Unlabelled: The separation of whole blood into components is the state-of-the-art in transfusion of allogeneic blood. The main reasons are the negative effects of the buffy coat and the need for FFP. Nevertheless, especially in Germany whole blood is being rejected more and more even as autologous blood. However, most of the negative effects of the buffy coat do not apply to autologous blood. Additionally, these patients usually do not develop coagulation disorders and therefore do not need plasma as a hemostatic component. On the other hand, separation into components of autologous blood leads to an increase of costs and to logistic problems that restrict autologous blood predeposit to a few institutions. Therefore, we have reviewed the literature in order to find a scientific basis for this., Methods: We analysed all articles listed by MEDLINE during the last 12 years that dealt with the quality of whole blood or red cell concentrates. In addition, all references were included that contributed relevant information to the topic. A total of 135 original articles, abstracts, reviews, letters or editorials were analysed that referred to standard preparations and storage media. In 48 papers the in vivo red cell survival was studied. 28 of which fulfilled the prerequisites to be included into a meta-analysis. The following in vitro parameters were also evaluated: pH, potassium load of the units, ATP and DPG concentration of the red cells., Results and Discussion: Whole blood (resuspended in CPDA-1) and red cell units (stabilized in CPDA-1 or additive solutions) with a different buffy coat or leucocyte content have comparable pH values and red cell 2,3-DPG and ATP concentrations at the end of the approved storage time. The potassium load of a whole blood unit appears to be higher than red cell concentrates, but this is to some extent caused by the higher plasma content of whole blood and is not thought to be a clinically relevant problem for patients receiving only a few units. A number of studies demonstrate that dependent upon the leucocyte content of a red cell unit, leucocyte metabolites and enzymes are released and accumulate during storage. A detrimental influence on the integrity of the red cell membrane was found in several in vitro studies. Nevertheless, a significant improvement in red cell survival by leucocyte reduction was detected by only one group. Undoubtedly, nonhemolytic febrile transfusion reactions (NHFTR) are generally caused by an antibody-antigen interaction due to the transfusion of allogeneic buffy coat. On the other hand, there is some evidence that non-specific immunological mechanisms such as the release of histamine or cytokines are also capable of causing NHFTR. Thus, these reactions are expected to occur in autologous blood transfusion. However, so far, there are no data about the frequency and severity of these reactions and whether they are more likely to emerge after transfusion of blood units with a particular preparation. Blood transfusions can cause septic complications due to bacterial contamination of the transfused units. These fatal but rare complications may be reduced by pre-storage filtration of blood, but there is no indication that buffy coat reduction is effective. Three cases with septic complications have been reported after autologous transfusion, in two of which red cell concentrates (at least one was free of buffy coat) had been used. Thus, there is no justification for the conclusion that the risk of septic complications is increased by transfusion of whole blood. After all, whole blood and red cell concentrates exhibit only minor differences in relevant in vitro parameters. Hence, a higher incidence of adverse effects following the transfusion of autologous whole blood compared to autologous red cell concentrations is unlikely. Therefore, the 24 h in vivo recovery is considered to be the most valid criterion to assess the quality of red cell preparations.(ABSTRACT TRUNCATED)

Postoperatively, after an uncomplicated vaginal hysterectomy, a 58-year-old female patient developed the signs of disseminated intravascular coagulation and fever, which progressed to a septic shock. She received two units of autologous blood, one during and one after the operation. A blood culture from the patient and one unit of the autologous blood showed abundant growth of Pseudomonas cepacia and Serratia marcescens within 24 h and culture of this blood bag also showed slight growth of Staphylococcus epidermidis within 48 h. Culture of the second blood unit showed slight growth of Propionibacterium acnes. The source of bacterial contamination could not be identified. Autologous blood products thus also include a risk of infection that shouldn't be underestimated, and a strict medical indication to retransfusion is indispensable.

Aim of this review is to compare benefits and risks of autologous blood transfusion with special emphasize on donation and retransfusion risks. Autologous blood transfusion may reduce the transfusion-associated mortality by 70%. Another advantage of preoperative autologous blood donation is the increase in erythropoiesis. Immunologic and viral infectious complications have not been reported with transfusion of autologous blood. On the other hand, autologous blood predonation is associated with risks during donation and retransfusion. Reactions due to routine autologous predonation of blood have been examined in several studies. Mild and moderate reactions occurred in similar frequencies with autologous predeposit and homologous donations, respectively. High risk autologous predonation has also been successfully performed in patients with end-stage heart or lung disease and in pregnancy. No data could be retrieved concerning the frequency of retransfusion-associated risks, e.g., clerical error or contamination of blood products. Bacterial contamination of autologous blood is published only in case reports. Autologous blood transfusion has minor impact on hospital mortality since overall risk of transfusion is low compared to mortality of anesthesia and surgery. However, no reliable criteria exist by which rare severe complications such as unstable angina or transient ischaemic attacks could be predicted. In cases with minor blood loss isovolaemic haemodilution should be performed instead of autologous predeposit. Autologous predonation should be done whenever other forms of autologous transfusion are not sufficient to exclude homologous transfusion.

Clinically, only patients treated with HES in stage of autologous blood sampling benefited significantly. Two patients showed adverse effects. The peri- and postoperative course was comparable. In the NaCl group one of the patients received homologous erythrocyte concentrates. None of the patients died pre-, peri- or postoperatively. 40% of the cardiosurgical patients could be considered for autologous blood donation. Isovolemic hemodilution with HES 200/0.5 10% was a suitable and safe measure in preoperative blood sampling. Physical exercise test should be performed before and after autologous blood donation. A reduced exercise tolerance suggests to stop autologous blood donation.

Preoperative autologous blood donation is only indicated if a positive balance between benefit and risk can be struck. In this contribution the different aspects to be considered are described and valued. By a mathematical formula we try to correlate the different aspects somewhat more objectively. In addition, we define 4 risk groups by the state of health of the patients which allow to estimate the risk of the patient by blood donation more easily and help to reduce it by selection of the appropriate donation procedure.

Patients scheduled for cardiac surgery are prone to adverse reactions during blood donation due to hemodynamic instability. 11 selected patients donated three units of red blood cell concentrates and three units of fresh frozen plasma (FFP) preoperatively in 11-day intervals under careful hemodynamic monitoring. 24 hours preoperatively autologous plasmapheresis (500 ml) was carried out in 10 patients at bedside. No complications were seen in any patients. The patients' mean hemoglobin concentrations were 142 +/- 11, 133 +/- 6, 128 +/- 7 and 126 +/- 7 g/l (mean +/- 1 SD) before each autologous blood donation and before the plasmapheresis respectively. No significant changes were noted in major hematological and chemical screening tests. Serum iron, iron-binding capacity and ferritin levels remained within the normal range. Due to additional perioperative blood saving methods, such as reinfusion of centrifuged oxygenator-blood (559 +/- 119 ml) and shed mediastinal blood (518 +/- 353 ml), only two patients needed additional transfusion of 1 homologous red cell unit each. On average 2.18 autologous red cell concentrates were retransfused per patient.

Underutilization of autologous blood for transfusion is widespread. Our results suggest that this problem could only gradually be corrected, as some patients show insufficient erythropoietic recovery after a predeposit autologous donation.

From August 1989 to April 1990, 511 patients donated preoperative blood for elective cardiothoracic, orthopedic or orthodontic operations. No side effects related to donations showed 64% of the patients, anemia 22%, vaso-vagal reactions 11%. From the autologous units 39% were transfused to the cardiothoracic, 63% to the orthopedic and 68% to the orthodontic patients.

Several versions of autologous transfusion are becoming increasingly popular. This review deals with their risks and side effects, which are still insufficiently documented. Basically, a number of preexisting conditions amounting to a subnormal performance and reserve capacity of several organ systems contraindicates preoperative donations, but 'critical' values of relevant parameters are still under debate. Since a preoperative deposit implies that the same individual donates several units within a few weeks, reaction rates must be related to the number of donors rather than that of donations. Viewed this way, the risk of--usually cardiocirculatory and sometimes serious--incidents is two times higher in autologous than in homologous donors. The reduction of oxygen transport capacity is a matter of concern. In order to avoid a mixed-venous p02 less than 35 mm Hg, which indicates an impending oxygen deficit, all 'non-hemoglobin' factors impacting on tissue oxygen supply must be normal even with 10 g/dl of hemoglobin; lower Hb values are undesirable. The use of erythropoietin to boost the preoperative harvest of red cells may not, by itself, be risky, but the accelerated pace of donations obviously is. The quality of cellular blood products prepared by intraoperative machine autotransfusion still leaves much to be desired. The suspicion that adenine and, especially, fibrinogen degradation products may be immunosuppressive, raises questions about the liberal use of autologous fresh frozen plasma. Bacterial contamination of reservoirs and the presence of tumor cells as well as fat droplets from bone marrow cannot be dismissed as being unimportant. Suction devices activate coagulation and fibrinolysis. Altogether, the risks of autologous transfusions, though different from those of homologous blood, require further efforts aimed at their reduction.

In addition to hemodilution and preoperative blood donations, mechanical intraoperative autotransfusion (MAT) is an important method of preventing or minimizing the transfusion of homologous blood in operations with major blood loss. Using cell separators allows most of the problems of MAT to be solved, but the processed red cell concentrates of patients having hip joint replacement contain fat. Due to the high risk of fat embolism during bone surgery, as well as other circulatory problems, it is of interest whether the infusion of up to 15 ml of fat does not expose patients to an even higher risk. This study aimed to research the pathogenesis of fat embolism and possibly support one of the existing theories. METHODS. Semiquantitative oil measurement: in 45 cases with first insertion of hip joint prosthesis and 16 cases with change of prosthesis MAT was used intra- and postoperatively. For comparison, 10 patients with aortic aneurysm repair were checked for fat as well. In these cases MAT was only used intraoperatively. After the red cell concentrate was processed there was a time lag of 10 min to allow better sedimentation of fat. At the end of retransfusion 50 ml of blood were saved. They were then separated into 10-ml plastic tubes, centrifuged, and fat content was measured using a mm-scale. The results were transformed to ml by means of a previously determined calibration. Analogous to hematocrit values, it was thus possible to establish a lipocrit for these patients. In another 16 cases of hip surgery we carried out cholesterol/triglyceride investigations in red cell concentrates, and in 5 cases analysis of the fatty acids by gas chromatography was performed. RESULTS. The lack of an emulsifier causes biochemical analysis of cholesterol-triglyceride levels to be impossible. Therefore, triglycerides and cholesterol in MAT blood were below normal levels although a high quantity of fat could be seen in the blood. No oil was found in any of the patients in the vascular surgical group. There were 61 patients in the orthopedic group; no oil was found in 34.4%, we found 1-2 ml in 16.4%, and in 49.2% there was more than 2 ml of oil. With regard to age, sex, weight, height, and deviation from Broca index no significant difference in lipocrit could be seen. Differences in lipocrit were observed depending on the type of operation (i.e. new insertion/change of hip prosthesis), these were not significant possibly due to the small number of patients undergoing a change of prosthesis. The more MAT blood was transfused, the more significant were the rises in lipocrit level. The rinsing solution itself (1000 ml NaCl 0.9% with heparin 30,000 IU) does not influence the oil concentrations. Gas chromatography revealed that there was more than 40% oleic acid and 20% palmitic acid. Combined with linoleic acid, this comprised 4/5 of the total amount of oil (Table 3)...

The possibilities of reducing the number of transfusions of heterologous blood are haemodilution, intraoperative auto-transfusion using the Bentley pump, and the administration of autologous deep-frozen erythrocytes. Indications, contraindications as well as the pros and cons of the various methods are discussed. Today, the use of coagulation factors is mainly limited to the treatment of congenital coagulation disorders, and prothrombin concentrate to application in bleeding problems arising from coumarin application. For other indications these preparations have been replaced by the therapeutically more effective fresh frozen plasma. The problems of transfusion hepatitis are briefly mentioned. Only small amounts of whole blood are usually required for transfusion in neonates and infants. Freshly collected whole blood has the best therapeutic effect. The indications and risks of the transfusion of freshly drawn blood are examined. The collection of fresh blood from a donor pool comprised of physicians and nursing staff from our own clinic has proved effective. The selection and control of these blood donors is discussed.

From February 1975 until July 1976 12 patients who elective surgery and 15 trauma victims received intraoperative autotransfusion. The effects of this method on these patients were controlled by monitoring the behaviour of circulation and of important laboratory parameters. The procedure was well tolerated: 1. Only three of 29 patients showed evidence of cardiac insufficiency (lowering of ST. elevated T-peak, low blood pressure, high central venous pressure) which disappeared after reducing the rate of infusion. --2. Blood pressure, pulse rate and central venous pressure were stable at the end of the operation. --3. There was no renal insufficiency under dopamine (210 microgram/min) and 15% manitol (250 ml i.v.). --4. Serum creatine showed only minor changes from the initial level during the time of observation. --5. The same was true for beta2-microglobulin. --6. Serum urea rose slightly during 7 days. --7. There were minor changes of electrolytes without hypocalcaemia or high potassium. --8. The observed changes showed no relation to the method of anticoagulation and to time or volume of autotransfusion.