Utility of red blood cell apheresis in autologous blood donation

Although autologous blood donation is an alternative to allogeneic transfusion, some authors had questioned its cost-effectiveness. New techniques, like red blood cell apheresis could improve the cost-effectiveness of autologous blood transfusion, therefore we have valued the efficiency of this procedure in autologous blood donation.

We studied 131 patients undergoing different types of surgery who entered the preoperative autologous blood donation program over a one year period. Apheresis was performed with the MCS 3p from Haemeonetics.

We were able to collect 304 red blood cell units from 131 patients. The average yield per procedure was two units (88 cases, 67.2%). In 41 patients (31.3%), we collected 3 units and, in two cases, 4 units were collected. The mean volume of the units was 255 (191-280). 18 (13.7% patients had an adverse reaction. Most of these were mild. Only in one case was it necessary to stop the procedure. 202 units (66.4%) were transfused to 97 patients (74%). 12 (9.2%) patients also used allogeneic transfusions (mean units: 0.18+/-0.05 with a range 1-5).

Red blood cell apheresis is a useful procedure in autologous blood donation.