ALL ADVERSE EVENTS IN AUTOLOGOUS BLOOD-DONORS WITH CARDIAC DISEASE ARE NOT NECESSARILY CAUSED BY BLOOD DONATION

BACKGROUND: Autologous blood donation before elective cardiac surgery has become a standard of care at many institutions. However, the safet y of autologous blood donations by patients with cardiac disease is su bject to controversy. CASE REPORTS: Two life-threatening cardiac arres ts and one fatal myocardial infarction that occurred in three patients who were scheduled to donate blood for autologous use in elective car diac surgery are reported. All three patients met the institution's se lection criteria for autologous blood donors, and all of them had give n written informed consent for their participation in the autologous b lood donation program. One of the two cardiac arrests and the myocardi al infarction occurred in the patients prior to any blood donations, a nd the other cardiac arrest occurred 7 days after the patient donated blood uneventfully CONCLUSION: Life-threatening and fatal adverse even ts may occur during the donation period in autologous blood donors wit h cardiac disease. Not all adverse events are necessarily caused by bl ood donation.