[Autologous transfusion for patients with increased risk of massive and/or critical bleeding--indication, efficacy...

The "Guideline for Management of Critical Bleeding in Obstetrics" was implemented by five obstetrics-related societies in April 2010 to improve management strategies and outcomes of massive bleeding in obstetrics. Besides emergency transfusion replacing acute blood loss, the Guideline contains a flow chart of instructions for autologous blood transfusion in obstetric patients with rare blood types, irregular antibodies, or with an increased risk and/or history of massive bleeding. In this chapter, based on the characteristics of bleeding in the field of obstetrics, indication, contraindication, patient selection, preparation, and pitfalls regarding actual practices of autologous blood transfusion are detailed in terms of efficacy and limitations. The pros and cons of autologous blood transfusion are discussed together with the feasibility of intra/post-operative blood salvage and hemodilutional autologous blood transfusion during bleeding to reduce the total amount of transfusion and thereby improve the outcome of critical bleeding in obstetrics.