ABSTRACT
BACKGROUND & OBJECTIVES: Pre-operative autologous blood donation (PABD) in elective orthopaedic surgeries is a well known procedure in the West. We initiated this programme at a tertiary care hospital in north India to study its feasibility in Indian patients. METHODS: In a prospective case-control study, 144 patients undergoing primary total hip or knee replacement, inter-vertebral discectomy, mal-union and non-union reconstruction were educated and motivated to pre-donate. Patients fulfilling the inclusion criteria and making autologous donation formed the PABD group (n=22). Patients eligible for PABD, but unwilling to participate; age, sex, pre-operative haemoglobin and operative procedure matched acted as controls (n=27). Unit(s) collected was processed like an allogeneic unit. Unit(s) found reactive for infectious markers or not utilized was discarded. Mean blood losses, transfusion trigger, allogeneic exposure and wastage between the two groups were compared. RESULTS: Of the 144 patients motivated, 40 per cent of the eligible subjects pre-deposited. The main motivational factor was fear of getting infection from someone's blood. Cardiac events and anaemia prevented 61.8 per cent patients to participate. Of the 50 units ordered, autologous units with a mean of 1.4 units/patient contributed 62 per cent. For total hip and total knee replacement (THR and TKR), autologous units met 76.2 and 80 per cent respectively of the total blood requirement. A significant decrease in the allogeneic exposure was observed between PABD and control group (18.2 vs 66.7%); 32.3 per cent of the autologous units were discarded. INTERPRETATION & CONCLUSION: Comprehensive PABD programme may be an effective method for reducing the need for allogeneic transfusion in patients undergoing joint replacement surgeries in our country, where transfusion transmitted infections due to high percentage of replacement donations and lack of sensitive assays for testing are still a cause for concern.