The efficacy and safety of postoperative autologous transfusion of filtered shed blood and anticoagulant prophylaxis in total knee arthroplasty patients

Purpose: To assess the efficacy and safety of autologous transfusion of filtered shed blood in total knee arthroplasty (TKA).

Materials and methods: A total of 42 patients with TKA (group A; without autologous transfusion in 15 patients, group B; with autologous transfusion in 27 patients) were evaluated retrospectively. The influence of autologous reinfusion of filtered blood, bleeding tendency, amount of blood drainage, rate of allogenic transfusion, and the postoperative changes of hemoglobin were analyzed.

Results: Allogenic transfusion was needed in 26.7% (4/15) of group A and none of group B till postoperative 48 hours. Till postoperative 14 days, 46.7% (7/15) of group A needed allogenic transfusion while 7.4% (2/27) in group B. The average drained blood volume was 1,197±400 mL in group A and 975±422 mL in group B. The average decrease of hemoglobin at postoperative 1, 7, and 14 days was 2.9±1.5, 2.9±1.6, and 2.3±1.5 g/dL respectively in group A and 2.7±0.8, 4.0±1.0, and 2.9±1.3 g/dL respectively in group B.

Conclusions: An autotransfusion system lowered the allogenic transfusion rate, while anticoagulants did not increase the amount of drained blood. An autotransfusion system with anticoagulants was effective and safe to save the shed blood in TKA.