A comparison of red cell recovery between two different methods of red cell washing

The success of cell salvage varies depending upon how many shed red blood cells (RBC) are captured from the surgical wound and returned to the patient. Here, the authors hypothesized that pneumatic disk (PD) processing might provide better RBC recovery when compared with traditional Latham bowl (LB) techniques. Comparison of the speed of processing, product hemoglobin and salvage efficiency was made between the two machines when their reservoirs were loaded with blood volumes ranging from 100 mL to 1000 mL. The PD provided a consistent hemoglobin concentration (21.7 +/- 0.8 g/dL; mean +/- SD), whereas the LB provided varying hemoglobin concentrations dependent upon the starting volume (range, 2.9 +/- 0.7 g/dL to 18.4 +/- 0.8 g/dL). The PD also provided more efficiency versus full LB only (79.4% versus 56.3%; P = 0.001). When all RBCs were processed, the LB technology provided statistically larger degrees of RBC return (79.4% versus 83.6% for the PD versus LB, respectively; P < 0.001). The processing speed of the LB was faster at all starting volumes. In conclusion, for small volumes of blood loss where a full LB is not achieved, the PD will return a larger number of cells with a more consistent hemoglobin per volume of blood processed.

This study compared two types of cell salvage equipment. Pneumatic disk processing may offer advantages over traditional devices when small blood loss is anticipated.