Effectiveness of Leukocyte Filters in Reducing Tumor Cell Contamination after Intraoperative Blood Salvage in Lung Cancer Patients

Objectives: In an effort to reduce allogeneic blood transfusions in patient; undergoing elective surgery for lung cancers we investigated the effectiveness of a method of processing shed blood with an automated device for intra operative blood salvage (IOBS) and filtration with a 3rd-generation polyester filter to remove turner cells. Methods: Sixteen patients were operated on for different types of lung cancer. We searched for malignant cells in pre- and postprocessed shed blood employing density gradient centrifugation, staining of eytospins with hematoxylin-eosin, and antibodies to human cytokeratins. Results: In 9 out of 16 cases (56%), neoplastic cells, were detected in prefiltration samples, but none were found in postfiltration cytospins. Conclusion: IOBS combined with appropriate filtration could be a very useful and safe tool in reducing allogenic blood transfusion in cancer patients.