INTRAOPERATIVE AUTOTRANSFUSION IN RADICAL CYSTECTOMY

Objective To assess the feasibility of intra-operative autotransfusion (IAT) as a method of decreasing or avoiding homologous blood transfus ion during radical cystectomy. Patients and methods IAT was performed in 10 patients with bladder cancer who underwent radical cystectomy. T he patients were divided into two groups: group 1 consisted of six pat ients without and group 2 of four patients with pre-deposited blood. B lood shed in the operative field was collected and processed with an I AT device. Results In group 1, the intra-operative blood loss ranged f rom 1.08 to 2.67 L (mean 1.82) and homologous blood transfusion ranged from 0 to 1 L (mean 0.47). The amount of autologous blood processed a nd transfused by the IAT device ranged from 0.38 to 0.98 L (mean 0.64) . Two patients did not require homologous blood transfusion. In group 2, the volume of pre-deposited blood ranged from 0.8 to 1.2 L (mean 0. 9). The intra-operative blood loss ranged from 1.03 to 3.24 L (mean 1. 8). The amount of processed autologous blood transfused ranged from 0. 4 to 0.6 L (mean 0.45). None of the patients in group 2 required homol ogous blood transfusion. Conclusion Although there are theoretical ris ks with LAT, they were not substantiated by the clinical data. IAT see ms to be a feasible method of reducing or avoiding homologous blood tr ansfusion in radical cystectomy. These results suggest that LAT in com bination with pre-deposited blood will abolish the need for homologous blood transfusion during radical cystectomy.