AUTO-TRANSFUSION FOLLOWING CARDIAC OPERATIONS - RANDOMIZED, PROSPECTIVE-STUDY

To evaluate the safety and effectiveness of the collection and retransfusion of post-operatively shed mediastinal blood as part of a multifaceted approach to blood conservation following cardiac operation, 113 patients were randomized into either an autotransfusion group (54 patients) or a control group (59 patients). Intraoperative and post-operative hemodilution was practiced in all patients. The clinical safety of this technique was confirmed by the lack of septic, hematological, pulmonary, renal, or hepatic complications. However, in this setting where blood conservation is already aggressively practiced, the ability of the technique to further reduce the use of banked blood following cardiac surgical procedures was not demonstrated. © 1979, The Society of Thoracic Surgeons. All rights reserved.