The purpose of this study was to determine what percentage of patients could avoid the transfusion of any homologous bank blood products during elective abdominal aortic surgery with a recently developed semicontinuous, rapid
autotransfusion device. Fifty patients (26 with
abdominal aortic aneurysms and 24 with aortic occlusive disease) prospectively received intraoperative autologous transfusion (group 1) and were matched for comparison with 50 patients receiving homologous blood without use of any
autotransfusion equipment (group 2). For the entire
perioperative period, 34 group 1 patients (68%) received only their own autotransfused blood and no other homologous blood components compared with group 2 in which 48 patients (96%) required some bank blood (p less than 0.0001). Rapid
autotransfusion reduced usage of homologous red cell transfusion by 75%. The mean postoperative
hemoglobin was similar in both groups (group 1, 11.91 gm/dl vs. group 2, 11.90 gm/dl, p = 0.73). Rapid
autotransfusion was not associated with significant
hemolysis,
air embolism, or coagulopathy and did not increase morbidity or death. By eliminating the need for any bank blood components in most patients, rapid
autotransfusion minimizes the risk of
blood-borne diseases and
transfusion reactions. New rapid
autotransfusion devices offer a distinct advantage over past equipment and allow significant changes in current transfusion practices during elective abdominal aortic reconstructions.