NoBlood

Clinical review -Autologous transfusion.

Elizabeth S Vanderlinde, chief resident ^a, Joanna M Heal, associate clinical professor of medicine ^c, Neil Blumberg, director, transfusion medicine and blood bank ^b.


^a Department of Pathology and Laboratory Medicine, University of Rochester Medical Center, Box 608, 601 Elmwood Avenue, Rochester, NY 14642, USA, ^b Transfusion Medicine Unit, University of Rochester Medical Center, ^c Department of Medicine, University of Rochester Medical Center


Correspondence to: N Blumberg Neil_Blumberg@urmc.rochester.edu

Since the AIDS epidemic of the early 1980s the interest in alternatives to allogeneic transfusion has grown, particularly for elective surgery. One alternative that currently accounts for over 5% of the blood donated in the United States and some countries in Europe is autologous transfusion, obtained primarily by preoperative donation. Although autologous transfusion is used less widely in the United Kingdom than in the United States, guidelines on its use have recently been published in the United Kingdom.¹ We describe the three main types of autologous transfusion and draw attention to the advantages and disadvantages of each technique (see table A on bmj.com). We also review the evidence from observational and controlled trials comparing autologous with allogeneic transfusion.


Full Report (Link)

__________________
Sharon Grant
Editorial Team