[Need for a pre-deposit autotransfusion program for patients undergoing elective surgery].

Area of Science:

• Transfusion Medicine
• Surgical Blood Management
• Patient Safety

Background:

• Preoperative autologous hemodonation (PAH) is a valuable procedure but associated with risks.
• Optimizing PAH requires understanding donation frequency and blood needs per intervention.
• This study aimed to identify surgical procedures suitable for autotransfusion and their actual blood requirements.

Purpose of the Study:

• To determine the frequency of autologous blood donation utilization in surgical procedures.
• To identify specific surgical interventions where autotransfusion is a true necessity.
• To analyze blood unit reservation versus transfusion rates across different surgical services.

Main Methods:

• Controlled crossmatched blood units reserved for potential autotransfusion.
• Identified the originating surgical service, intervention type, and units requested/transfused.
• Analyzed data from 269 surgical interventions and 666 reserved blood units.

Main Results:

• 69% of reserved blood units were not transfused during surgical operations.
• Transfusion occurred in 26.28% of cases, with 229 units transfused.
• Traumatology and Heart Surgery services had the highest blood demand; total knee replacement required the most units.
• Hysterectomy showed the lowest utilization rate (5.26%).

Conclusions:

• Autotransfusion is recommended for patients undergoing knee/hip replacement and cardiac surgery with extracorporeal circulation.
• Patients scheduled for procedures with low blood utilization rates should be informed of these findings.
• This data supports better patient counseling and resource allocation in blood management.