On-line autotransfusion waste calculator

Area of Science:

• Biomedical Engineering
• Cardiovascular Surgery
• Transfusion Medicine

Background:

• Cell concentrating and washing techniques are standard in cardiac surgery.
• These methods risk losing essential blood components like platelets, proteins, and clotting factors.
• The loss occurs during saline washes aimed at removing harmful substances.

Purpose of the Study:

• To quantify the loss of platelets, proteins, and clotting factors during cell processing.
• To estimate the cost of replacing these components with allogeneic blood products.
• To simulate and compare the economic impact of cell washing versus alternative techniques.

Main Methods:

• Development of an interactive Microsoft Excel spreadsheet calculator.
• Input of patient, autotransfusion system (ATS), and allogeneic blood product data.
• Calculation of wasted components and the cost of allogeneic replacement.

Main Results:

• Cell washing leads to significant loss of platelets, proteins, and fibrinogen.
• Replacing 1550 mL of residual blood components with allogeneic products costs approximately $2097.
• The study quantifies the economic implications of component loss during cell processing.

Conclusions:

• Cell washing sacrifices beneficial plasma constituents, incurring substantial replacement costs.
• The financial impact of replacing lost platelets and proteins necessitates evaluating alternative methods.
• Techniques like whole blood ultrafiltration may offer a more cost-effective approach.