THE POTENTIAL ROLE OF OXYGEN-CARRYING PRODUCTS IN AUTOLOGOUS BLOOD-TRANSFUSION PROTOCOLS

For surgical patients transfusion of autologous blood (AB) is the most useful of measures to reduce patient's exposure to homologous blood ( HB). In our Institute an autotransfusion program was started in 1982 u tilizing all the autotransfusion techniques currently available. The i ntegrated use of the techniques offered to the majority of the patient s the possibility of receiving AB (98% of the elective surgery patient s) and a consistent conservation of HB has been achieved (60-70%). How ever 42% are still exposed to some HB. Critical parameters that render the patients unable to fullfill the anticipated transfusion needs wit h the current AB transfusion techniques are: the patient's ability to predonate sufficient AB prior to surgery and the amount of blood trans fused intraoperatively that in turn depends on different ''transfusion trigger''. In our Institute over 50% of all the blood units are trans fused the day of operation (60% being AB, 40% HB) and 50% postoperativ ely (only 33% being AB). For this reason, a clinical application for t he oxygen-carrying products can be the replacement of the blood lost d uring, or immediately after the operation permitting the surgeon to op erate safety at a lower Hct levels, thereby delaying the transfusion o f blood and saving the AB obtained.