Blood management in total joint arthroplasty

One of the primary goals in the perioperative care of orthopaedic patients undergoing surgery is the avoidance of allogeneic transfusion. There are a number of ways to lessen blood loss during surgical intervention including regional hypotensive anesthesia, careful and atraumatic surgical technique, and coagulation of bleeding surfaces. Achieving coagulation is difficult in spinal and arthroplasty procedures because of the large cancellous surfaces that are vascular and are not amenable to ligature or thermal coagulation. All measures of autologous blood salvage should be used including preoperative deposit of autologous blood, hemodilution techniques, intraoperative salvage (when appropriate), and postoperative retrieval and reinfusion. The use of perioperative recombinant erythropoietin is also a useful adjunct to promote stimulation of the bone marrow and increased red cell production. Although many infectious diseases that are transmitted through allogeneic blood transfusions have been lessened by better screening techniques, there is still potential life threatening reactions and viral transmissions that may be avoided by comprehensive blood management in joint arthroplasty.