Transfusion medicine
-
Transfusion medicine · Oct 2006
Randomized Controlled TrialEfficacy, safety and user-friendliness of two devices for postoperative autologous shed red blood cell re-infusion in elective orthopaedic surgery patients: A randomized pilot study.
To determine the safety, efficacy and user-friendliness of two different postoperative autologous blood re-infusion systems, an open, randomized, controlled study was performed. Eligible consecutive primary and revision total hip and knee replacement patients were randomized for one of the two systems or for a control group in which shed blood was not re-infused. The nursing staff scored user-friendliness. ⋯ In multivariate analysis, autologous re-infusion was an independent factor associated with a shorter hospital stay. Both postoperative autologous blood re-infusion systems were of equal efficacy and safety. The contribution of autologous wound blood re-infusion to reduce allogeneic transfusions must be investigated in a larger study.