Improved Autotransfusion Product to Conserve Blood and Reduce Blood Replacement Needs in Combat

摘要

Autotransfusion is a procedure by which a patient is reinfused with his own blood. Autotransfusion may be classified according to the conditions under which the patient's blood is collected. There is preoperative autotransfusion in which a patient's blood is preoperatively collected and stored to serve as an intra- or postoperative source of blood intraoperative autotransfusion in which a patient's shed blood is collected intraoperatively, generally for immediate reinfusion and postoperative autotransfusion in which blood is collected postoperatively from mediastinal tubes placed in post-cardiac surgical patients. The results of this feasibility study clearly indicate the following: There is a need for the development of a specialized ATS for the military application; the basic Thoratec ATS can provide a sound basis from which to derive a practical system for military use; and the collapsible ATS design generated during Phase I appears to address the specific needs of the military, particulary the key issue of logistics. The in vivo test results showed that the overall blood handling function of the device is convenient and efficient. Additionally, in these experiments, red blood cell damage was found to be minimal, the recovery of blood components in the salvaged blood was considered to be very good, and the relatively small changes in the measured hemostatic parameters were not very difficult from those observed in a control experiment. Keywords: Lab animals; Surgery. (AW)