Fresh Autologous Blood in Open-Heart Surgery: Influence on Blood Requirements, Bleeding and Platelet Counts

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Abstract
The role of fresh autologous blood on haemostasis was studied in 30 patients undergoing aortic valve replacement. All the patients were extremely haemodiluted during the perfusion by using a non-haemic priming solution and withdrawal of 15% of the blood volume at the start of operation. In half of the patients, the autologous blood was retransfused immediately after the termination of perfusion. In the other half, donor blood was given in this period, while the retransfusion of autologous blood was delayed until three hours postoperatively. An increase of circulating platelets was found after the withdrawal of blood and replacement with double the amount of Ringer's acetate. Significantly less donor blood and plasma was transfused in the patients receiving early transfusion of autologous blood. An average reduction of 36% donor blood and 45% plasma was obtained. The blood losses were also less in these patients, but the differences were not significant.