[Three cases of thoracic or thoracoabdominal aortic aneurysm successfully treated with cell saver]

During a three-month period from January to March 1986, reconstructive surgery was performed on three patients with thoracic or thoracoabdominal aortic aneurysm using a temporary bypass procedure. To reduce the amount of blood transfusion required during operation, an autologous blood recovery system, Cell Saver, was used in these three cases. The amount of blood loss, including the blood passing through the Cell Saver, was 7,020g in Case 1, 6,600g in Case 2 and 16,700g in Case 3. The amount of blood transfusion given to these three cases was 1,400g, 4,400g and 6,800g, respectively. The results indicated that the ratio of transfused blood amount to blood loss during operation was successfully reduced to a level of 20-67% of two other cases with thoracoabdominal aortic aneurysm, operated upon without using Cell Saver. Cell Saver was especially effective in Case 3 in which the blood for transfusion was restricted, for it was difficult to collect enough donors to complete operation because of rare blood type of Rh(-) in this case. That is, Cell Saver withdrew 15,000ml of blood through the sucker from the patient and returned it as concentrated and washed RBC during operation.