Autologous blood transfusion in acute type A aortic dissection decreased blood product consumption and improved postoperative outcomesCentral MessagePerspective

Objective: To evaluate the effect of autologous blood use on blood product consumption and outcomes after acute type A aortic dissection repair. Methods: From 2010 to October 2020, 497 patients underwent open acute type A aortic dissection repair, including those with autologous blood harvesting before cardiopulmonary bypass and transfusion after cardiopulmonary bypass (autologous blood transfusion [ABT], n = 397) and without autologous blood harvesting and transfusion (No-ABT, n = 100). The median ABT volume was 900 mL. Using propensity score matching, 89 matched pairs were identified based on age, sex, body mass index, preoperative hemoglobin, acute preoperative stroke, previous cardiac surgery, and cardiogenic shock. Results: After propensity score matching, both groups were similar in demographic characteristics and aortic procedures. The ABT group required significantly less intraoperative transfusion of blood products (6 vs 11 units; P