[Autologous blood donation with preservation by freezing]

Freezing of red cells has the advantage of preserving quality and viability of red blood cells. When used for autologous blood, it allows a flexible schedule of multiple preoperative donations. The main disadvantage is the need for deglycerolization before retransfusion; so frozen storage is thought to be time- and cost-intensive. The combination of predeposit autologous blood maintained in frozen storage and intraoperative blood salvage (Cell Saver) returning the autologous red cells to the patient after washing has been our routine program in orthopedic surgery for several years. Therefore, the idea arose of transferring the thawing and deglycerolization procedure to the surgical theatre in order to use the Cell Saver twice. The anesthetist takes care of the preparation of the predeposit blood according to the actual needs of the patient. One unit of washed packed predeposit red cells is available within 30 min. The intraoperative blood salvage can be performed with the same machine simultaneously without interference, as drawing of blood is still possible during the washing procedure. Since the same disposable is used for both procedures costs are saved. Using this approach cell freezing was established in our orthopedic hospital, where more than 70% of hemotherapy is now covered by autologous blood.