SURVIVAL AND HALF-LIFE OF RED-CELLS SALVAGED AFTER HIP AND KNEE REPLACEMENT SURGERY

The survival of autologous red cells collected intraoperatively has be en reported previously. This study measures the survival and half-life of red cells collected 3 hours after hip and knee arthroplasty. For s ix patients, four having knee replacements and two having hip replacem ents, the salvaged red cells were labeled with radioactive Cr-51. Peri pheral blood was simultaneously labeled with nonradioactive Cr-52. The re was no significant difference in the survival or half-life of the s alvaged and the venous blood.