Plain language summary
In people undergoing emergency surgery to the chest or abdomen, how effective is transfusing a person's own blood compared with donor blood
Background
Trauma is the leading cause of death in people under the age of 45 years. Over the past 20 years, transfusions using an individual's own blood, salvaged during surgery through a process called 'cell salvage' (also known as intraoperative blood salvage), have been used as an alternative to blood products donated from other individuals (standard care) during surgical procedures. Many people prefer this because of the risk of transfusion-related infections such as hepatitis and human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) from donor blood. In this review, we aimed to determine how effective cell salvage is, compared with usual care, in individuals undergoing abdominal or thoracic (chest) trauma surgery. We considered outcomes including the survival of the individual, their need for extra blood and the costs of this procedure compared with standard care.
Search date
Evidence in this review is current to 25 November 2014.
Study characteristics
We identified one randomised controlled trial, which involved people with a penetrating injury to the chest. In this study, 44 people (mostly male and with similar characteristics in terms of type of injury) were given either their own reprocessed blood (through cell salvage) or standard care using donated blood. The study was conducted at a hospital in Johannesburg, South Africa in 2002.
Results
Results indicated no important differences between the two groups of participants with regard to survival, postoperative infection, or cost. There was a reduction in the amount of banked blood (blood that has been donated and stored) required for transfusion within the first 24 hours following injury among people receiving cell salvage. Data on other adverse events were not reported.
We believe that larger, multicentre, methodologically rigorous trials are needed to assess the relative efficacy, safety and cost-effectiveness of cell salvage in trauma surgery and other surgical procedures.
Quality of the evidence
The quality of the one study identified was high, but the number of participants was not large. No firm conclusions can be drawn as to the safety and effectiveness of cell salvage in individuals undergoing abdominal or thoracic trauma surgery.