The use of banked autologous blood in patients undergoing surgery for spinal deformity

The cases of fifty-two patients who underwent sixty elective spinal fusions for spinal deformity were studied to evaluate the efficacy of the use of banked autologous blood to replace operative loss of blood. The patients ranged in age from ten to forty-nine years. Each patient began to take 325 milligrams of ferrous sulphate, three times a day, as soon as surgery was scheduled, and was evaluated weekly at the Shepeard Community Blood Bank. If a patient's hemoglobin level was more than eleven milligrams per 100 milliliters, either a whole unit of blood or a half-unit was drawn at each visit. An average of 3.3 units of blood (range, 1.5 to 6.0 units) was obtained and was stored for as long as forty-two days. Either citrate phosphate dextrose with adenine (CPDA-1) or adenine, dextrose, and mannitol (ADSOL) was used as a preservative. In 85 per cent of the procedures only autologous blood was required for transfusion. This method proved to be simple, safe, and very well accepted.