Predonated Autologous Blood Transfusion in Elective Orthopaedic Surgeries: Experience at a Tertiary Care Centre of North India

Autologous blood transfusion is the collection of blood from a single patient and retransfusion back to the same patient when required. . In orthopaedic surgery, Turner reported the use of autologous blood in various surgical procedures and, subsequently, Cowell reported its use in paediatric orthopaedics. In this study we included twenty patients who were scheduled for elective orthopaedic surgery and would require 1 unit of blood during surgery. Out of these 19(95%) were males and 1(5%) was female. Mean age of the patients was 35 years, range (20-50) years. 13 patients (65%) were transfused autologous blood during surgery and 7 patients(35%) were transfused on first post operative day. 8 patients(40%) had femoral shaft fractures, 5 patients(25%) had prolapsed intervertebral disc, 4 patients(20%) had tibial shaft fractures, 3 patients(15%) had forearm bones fractures. 2 patients(10%) had rare blood groups and they were particularly benefitted. Average 6 week post operative haemoglobin was 11.7 gm/dl. Mild adverse reactions were found in 1 patient (5%). None of the patients had any severe adverse reactions. In conclusion, autologous blood transfusion is safe, effective and economical, with benefits for both the surgeon and the patient. It is a procedure that can easily be adopted in any hospital.