BENEFITS AND RISKS OF SCHEDULED AUTOLOGOUS BLOOD-TRANSFUSION

Blood transfusion, like any other medical activity, requires an analys is of the risk/benefit ratio for each patient. Autologous blood transf usion does not escape this golden rule. The benefits expected of sched uled autologous transfusion consist of the reduction of the risks inhe rent in homologous transfusion. Those benefits are indisputable in ery throcyte alloimmunisation and viral or parasitic disease transmission. But the risks attached to such protocols have often been underestimat ed. The risks for the patient are still linked to the transfusion of a utologous labile blood products (haemolysis, bacterial infections) or to consequences of whole blood donations (cardiovascular intolerance, increased use of transfusion, increased operative bleeding). There are also risks for the patient community insofar as autologous blood prod ucts which do not all meet the same criteria of clinical and biologica l validation as homologous blood products are circulated in care insti tutions. (C) 1998 Elsevier, Paris.