The results suggest cell salvage is efficacious in reducing the need for allogeneic red cell transfusion in adult elective cardiac and orthopaedic surgery. The use of cell salvage did not appear to impact adversely on clinical outcomes. However, the methodological quality of trials was poor. As the trials were unblinded and lacked adequate concealment of treatment allocation, transfusion practices may have been influenced by knowledge of the patients' treatment status potentially biasing the results in favour of cell salvage.
[Measures for reducing the use of homologous blood. Effects on blood coagulation during total endoprosthesis].
The influence of two different methods of autologous transfusion, preoperative donor plasmapheresis (Abbott Autotrans) and postoperative autotransfusion (intraoperative blood salvage, Dideco Autotrans), on the intravascular hemostatic system was investigated. Forty-two patients undergoing total hip surgery and preoperative donor plasmapheresis were prospectively randomized into three groups. For substitution of blood loss, patients in group 1 (control group, n = 12) received in addition to cristalloids and colloids only homologous blood, group 2 (n = 14) autologous blood, and group 3 (n = 16) additionally intra- and postoperative autologous fresh frozen plasma (FFP). The investigation included blood parameters (hemoglobin, hematocrit, thrombocytes), clotting status (prothrombin time, plasma thromboplastin time, thrombin time, fibrinogen, plasminogen, and antithrombin III), and immunological methods such as fibrinopeptide A (FPA), thrombin-antithrombin III (TAT), and protein C. No significant difference was found with respect to total amount of infusion, intraoperative blood loss, autologous transfusion, and blood parameters. Excellent quality of the autologous FFP was demonstrated by investigation of the specimens before administration. The autologous packed red cells showed high levels of TAT and FPA as an indicator of thrombin generation. Their administration caused a significant increase in TAT and FPA levels in groups 2 and 3 compared to group 1.(ABSTRACT TRUNCATED AT 250 WORDS)