[The usefulness of autologous blood transfusion for urologic surgery]

To avoid potential risks associated with homologous blood transfusion including viral infection and graft versus host disease (GVHD), autologous blood donations have been promoted in urologic surgery. We assessed its necessity in the patients undergoing radical retropubic prostatectomy and total cystectomy. A total of 27 patients ranging from 54 to 78 years old donated 400 to 1,200 ml of blood prior to radical prostatectomy (17 patients) and total cystectomy (10 patients). Recombinant erythropoietin was administered in 26 out of 27 patients. The mean hemoglobin concentration was 14.1 g/dl before donation and 12.8 g/dl before operation. The mean volume of surgical blood loss was 1,659 ml ranging from 529 to 2,990 ml in total cystectomy, and 1,438 ml ranging from 553 to 2,841 ml in radical prostatectomy. Overall, 22 out of 27 patients (82%) did not require an additional homologous blood transfusion. In conclusion, autologous blood donation is a safe and useful method to avoid homologous transfusion in radical prostatectomy and total cystectomy. Eight hundred ml of blood donation is suggested to be appropriate prior to these surgeries.