The use of autologous blood in patients undergoing subcutaneous mastectomy or reduction mammaplasty.

Adverse reactions are reported following 2% of transfusions. Posttransfusion viral hepatitis may occur in 8% of patients receiving homologous blood. Plastic surgery procedures, such as reduction mammaplasty and subcutaneous mastectomy, are associated with moderate blood loss that may require transfusion. Over a five-year period we offered autologous blood transfusions to 88 patients scheduled for such surgery. Approximately ten days before their operation, 72 patients each donated 450 ml of blood, which was then available for transfusion during surgery. When admitted for surgery, the patients' mean reduction in hemoglobin was 6.9%. Their average calculated blood loss was 930 ml, with a net loss of 483 ml after receiving their own blood. No complications occurred. Only 2 of these patients required an additional unit of homologous blood. Six of the 16 patients who did not donate blood preoperatively required homologous blood transfusions. The use of safe autologous blood was enthusiastically accepted by the surgical and anesthesia staff, blood bank personnel, and the patients.