Studies on Post-operative Blood Salvage using Cell Saver after Total Knee Replacement

The post-operative results of patients who had received total knee replacements were analysed according to their blood transfusion statis. Thirty-three patients (40 knees) with gonarthrosis and rheumatoid arthritis were divided into the following three groups: Group 1, had received a blood transfusion; Group 2 were not transfused; and Group 3 were transfused with autologous blood.The general condition post-operatively including hemogram, of the autologous transfused group was the most stable with a hematocrit value in this group of 32-43%. No abnormal findings of the autologous blood were found by light microscopy.These results suggest that post-operative blood salvage using the cell saver is a very useful technique, when the elderly, arthritic patient undergones total knee replacement or when patients undergo bilateral total knee replacement in one operation.