[Autologous transfusion -- from euphoria to reason: clinical practice based on scientific knowledge (Part II)....

It is uncontested that blood-saving strategies should also be applied in children. However, in the past, blood-saving techniques saw limited use in children, although they are well-established in adults. This is due to technical and methodical problems, but also to the physiologically limited compensatory mechanisms for diminished oxygen delivery in this age group. For this reason, the various blood saving-techniques cannot be universally applied to all age groups. During the first year of life most perioperative techniques are of only limited benefit: even only a small amount of blood loss in relation to total blood volume makes a transfusion of allogeneic blood necessary, which is far before enough shed blood can be recovered for retransfusion. Preoperative autologous donation of blood calls for a high degree of cooperation by the child and the parents an is equally demanding in terms of organization and skills. Therefore, this procedure is used mainly in school-age children and in adolescents. Intraoperative blood salvage, by contrast, is already worthwhile in children from age one year with an expected blood loss of 20 % of blood volume. Acute normovolemic hemodilution and deliberate hypotension should be recommended only in an age group where cardiovascular compensatory mechanisms are given. Supporting procedures aimed at avoiding the need for allogeneic blood include perioperative administration of erythropoietin, iron supplementation, blood-saving surgical techniques and careful hemostasis. These prerequisites, the combination of various techniques, as well as the definition of an age-specific low transfusion trigger have contributed to a marked decrease in the need for allogeneic blood products in children in recent years.