title: Ten years of preoperative autologous blood donation in accra.
abstract: BACKGROUND
  Preoperative autologous blood donation (PABD) is utilized to circumvent the use of allogenic blood for various reasons.
  
  
  OBJECTIVE
  To describe the distribution in terms of demographic characteristic, trends in participation and result of screening test of the PABD programme of the Accra Area Blood Center from 1993-2003.
  
  
  METHODS
  Retrospective descriptive study of PABD in patients scheduled for a variety of elective surgical procedures.
  
  
  METHODS
  Different levels of institutional health care in Accra, Ghana.
  
  
  METHODS
  Data from existing records of patients who had participated in PABD were collated and analyzed
  
  
  RESULTS
  Five hundred and forty six (546) females and 89 males participated, with ages ranging between 14-74 years. Majority of the patients (76.7%) underwent gynaecological surgery. A total of 330 (52%) donated one unit only, and 299 (47.1%) donated two units. Majority of the patients (56.4%) had the surgery at the Korle-Bu Teaching Hospital (KBTH). Of the donations, 21 (3.3%), 1 (0.2%), 1 (0.3%) and nil were positive for HBV, HIV I & II, HCV and VDRL respectively. A total of 848 (89.4%) autologous cross-matched units were issued out. There was a steady progressive increase in participation.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  Mainly adult females scheduled for gynaecological surgeries in KBTH participated, while almost equal proportions donated one or two units of blood which meets the blood needs of most elective surgeries. Therefore healthy patients going for elective surgeries in regions with limited blood supply must be encouraged to enter a PABD Programme. Further studies in this field should evaluate motivational factors for participation.
authors.affiliation: National Blood Transfusion Service, P.O BOX KB 78 Korle Bu, Accra, Ghana.
authors.forename: Justina K
authors.initials: JK
authors.lastname: Ansah
authors.forename: Jk
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Acquaye