Autotransfusion of drainage blood in arthroplasty. A prospective, controlled study of 31 operations.

56 consecutive patients who had primary arthroplasties of the hip or the knee were randomly selected for either autologous or homologous blood transfusion. For autologous transfusion, the Solcotrans Orthopaedic® device was used. Patients who received autologous transfusion had 65 percent of the postoperatively drained blood reinfused; compared to the control group the number of bank blood transfusions decreased in the hip group from 2.3 to 0.6 units, and in the knee group from 3.3 to 0.3 units.