Autologous blood transfusion during emergency trauma operations

Intraoperative cell salvage (CS) of shed blood during emergency surgical procedures provides an effective and cost-efficient resuscitation alternative to allogeneic blood transfusion, which is associated with increased morbidity and mortality in trauma patients.

Retrospective matched cohort study.

Level I trauma center.

All adult trauma patients who underwent an emergency operation and received CS as part of their intraoperative resuscitation. The CS group was matched to a no-CS group for age, sex, Injury Severity Score, mechanism of injury, and operation performed.

Amount and cost of allogeneic transfusion of packed red blood cells and plasma.

The 47 patients in the CS group were similar to the 47 in the no-CS group for all matched variables. Patients in the CS group received an average of 819 mL of autologous CS blood. The CS group received fewer intraoperative (2 vs 4 U; P = .002) and total (4 vs 8 U; P < .001) units of allogeneic packed red blood cells. The CS group also received fewer total units of plasma (3 vs 5 U; P = .03). The cost of blood product transfusion (including the total cost of CS) was less in the CS group ($1616 vs $2584 per patient; P = .004).

Intraoperative CS provides an effective and cost-efficient resuscitation strategy as an alternative to allogeneic blood transfusion in trauma patients undergoing emergency operative procedures.