Survival of autotransfused red blood cells recovered from the surgical field during cardiovascular operations.

The survival of autologous red blood cells (RBCs) collected during operation from the surgical field and processed immediately by the Haemonetics Cell Saver was compared to the survival of autologous nonprocessed RBCs obtained by venipuncture in nine patients undergoing reconstructive vascular operations and four patients undergoing coronary artery bypass. A double isotope technique (Cr-51 and In-111) was used to determine the survival of the different cell populations. Seven patients undergoing coronary artery bypass served as controls to characterize the isotopes by labeling the same population of RBCs with each radionuclide. Comparison of the data in all groups failed to show any significant difference in either the immediate or long-term survival between autotransfused (Cell Saver--processed) blood and nonprocessed RBCs. This study indicates that shed blood collected and processed at operation with the Haemonetics Cell Saver can be autotransfused and that the in vivo survival of these cells is not significantly different from the survival of nonprocessed blood.