Perioperative autologous blood donation in children

Autologous blood donation in children has become a standard of care. Childr en have to live with the life-time complications associated with allogeneic blood including the transmission of known and unknown pathogens, and the i mpact of alloimmunization on future blood transfusions, organ transplants a nd pregnancies. Donor reaction, allogeneic exposure and utilization rates i n pediatric preoperative autologous donation (PAD) programs are as good if not better than reported in adult literature. Children are very resilient w hen undergoing extreme isovolemic hemodilution (IHD). PAD, IHD and intraope rative blood recovery appear to be useful components of a pediatric blood c onservation program. Prospective, randomized studies addressing the specifi c needs of children are required to properly define their perioperative rol e. (C) 1999 Elsevier Science Ltd. All rights reserved.