Blood transfusion requirements in otolaryngology--head and neck surgery

Blood requirements for Head and Neck surgical procedures have not been studied carefully. In order to set up an autotransfusion program, the blood loss and transfusion requirements should be known precisely.

The blood bank database was used to determine which Head and Neck procedures required blood transfusion during the previous 5 years. A list of 10 transfusion-associated operations was established, the records of all patients who underwent these procedures during a 5-year period were reviewed, and average the blood loss and number of units transfused determined.

All procedures were for cancer resection. The operations were classified in 3 groups according to their transfusion probability: high (> 80%), low (< 5%) and moderate. For the moderate transfusion group, age, preoperative hemoglobin, and past medical history of cardiac and pulmonary disease were associated with higher incidence of transfusion. An average delay of 3 weeks was found between the diagnosis and the actual surgery.

The transfusion requirements of Head and Neck surgical procedures could be safely met by an autotransfusion protocol, given the average delay of 3 weeks between diagnosis and surgery.