The cost effectiveness of pre-surgical autogeneic blood deposit has been increasingly
called into question, given the additional costs involved in preoperative deposit of
autogeneic red cell units (in New York, as many as 40 percent of these are eventually
discarded rather than used), the risk of rendering the patient anemic and more likely to
be transfused as a result of the procedure, combined with the improved safety of
allogeneic blood transfusions and the availability of other more convenient and less
costly options.