Patients who have
cancer are exposed to the adverse consequences of
blood transfusions, such as transmissible diseases. This study presents an examination of a program of autologous blood deposit for
cancer patients undergoing
elective surgical procedures. Over a 3-year period, 235 patients deposited 388 units of autologous blood: 6 for head and neck
tumor surgery, 8 for neurosurgical
tumors, 8 for gastrointestinal and
colorectal tumor surgery, 14 for adrenal
tumor surgery, 16 for gynecologic
tumor surgery, 23 for soft tissue and bone
tumor surgery, 25 for
mastectomies and reconstructive breast surgery, 42 for genitourinary
tumor surgery, and 93 for bone marrow aspirations for autologous transplants. One hundred eighty-two patients (77.4%) used 278 units (71.6%) of their autologous blood units during the operations, 50/182 required additional homologous blood, and 53 did not require transfusions with autologous blood. Our study shows that a majority of these patients (132/182) underwent surgery using only autologous transfusions. Therefore, we believe that predeposited autologous blood is a viable alternative to homologous blood for
cancer patients undergoing surgery.