title: The impact of preoperative autologous blood donation on orthopaedic surgical practice.
abstract: We have conducted a retrospective 3-year analysis of our autologous blood donation program to assess its impact on orthopaedic surgery. We conclude: (1) utilization has increased from less than 5% of eligible patients in the first audit interval to nearly 50% in the last audit interval; (2) in the last audit interval, autologous blood donation resulted in a reduction of homologous blood transfusion from 41% in nonautologous blood patients to 14% in autologous blood donors; (3) increasingly conservative transfusion practice is seen for all patients undergoing elective orthopaedic surgery; (4) regional blood centers are responding to increasing requests for autologous blood with programs that are effective in attracting autologous blood donors; (5) on the basis of utilization and efficacy, preoperative autologous blood donation as an alternative to homologous blood transfusion now represents a standard of practice for elective orthopaedic surgery.
authors.affiliation: Department of Medicine, Case Western Reserve University School of Medicine, Cleveland, Ohio.
authors.forename: L T
authors.initials: LT
authors.lastname: Goodnough
authors.forename: D
authors.initials: D
authors.lastname: Shafron
authors.forename: R E
authors.initials: RE
authors.lastname: Marcus
mesh_terms: D001804:Blood Transfusion, Autologous; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D009985:Orthopedics / Q000379:methods*; D011300:Preoperative Care / Q000379:methods*; D012189:Retrospective Studies