[Postoperative autologous transfusion in primary hip arthroplasties]

100 patients who underwent primary, total hip arthroplasty were consecutively included in this study. Their postoperative sanguineous wound drainage was reinfused, and the purpose of the study was to evaluate if such reinfusion reduced the use of homologous blood. 100 patients who were operated immediately prior to the reinfusion group were used as a historical control group. The mean volume reinfused was 426 milliliters. The mean haemoglobin of the wound drainage was 7.3 g/100 ml. There was no statistically significant reduction in the use of homologous blood. Nor was there any reduction in the number of patients exposed to such blood. Autotransfusion of postoperative sanguineous wound drainage does not seem to be indicated as a routine procedure in primary total hip arthroplasties.