What is Autotransfusion?

No blood is better compatible than your own and is therefore always the best option in cases where your own blood can be used in surgery. In addition to autologous blood donation, where you donate your own blood before a planned surgery, there are other options.

Autotransfusion is a medical process in which a person’s own blood is collected, processed, and then re-infused back into their body during a surgery. This is an option for donor blood transfusions and is used for surgical procedures that result in significant blood loss – if you ask for it. Autotransfusion eliminates the risk of mRNA contamination, disease transmission,  and allergic reactions associated with donated blood and ensures that a patient receives perfectly matched blood, as their own blood contains the necessary antigens and antibodies required for a successful transfusion. Autotransfusion is referred to as IOS/ICS (cell salvage or cell saver, or MAT (machine autotransfusion) or ADR (autologous direct retransfusion).

The procedure can be performed using two types of devices: cell savers and blood salvage systems. Cell savers are attached to the patient’s body during surgery and collect the patient’s blood as it is lost, whereas blood salvage systems are stand-alone devices that collect the blood outside of the body. Both devices work by filtering and washing the collected blood, removing any debris and contaminants, and then re-infusing the blood back into the patient’s body.

Autotransfusion is a useful alternative to donated blood transfusions in many surgical procedures. By reducing the risk of disease transmission and mRNA contamination and ensuring that the patient receives perfectly matched blood, autotransfusion can improve the outcome of surgical procedures and lower the overall cost of healthcare. If your physician or surgeon tells you that you may need a transfusion during a surgical procedure, you should first ask to donate your own blood or use the cell saver. Unfortunately, autotransfusion is not performed as a standard procedure in most hospitals, primarily because the safe and effective performance of ICS requires an operating room environment with trained and dedicated surgical, anesthesia, and nursing staff; it is more labor intensive than the donor transfusion alternative. Increased care is required to ensure safe and efficient blood collection. Financial investments in training, machines, and disposables are required. In other words, the clinic simply makes more money when it uses blood units. Therefore, to ensure that you receive an autotransfusion and minimize the risk of a foreign blood transfusion, you must specifically ask for it. Talk to your surgeon before deciding where you want to have surgery.

A list of clinics that offer autotransfusion according to our research can be found here by selecting the option “We offer surgical techniques such as autotransfusion …” under “Free choice of blood donor”. If you know of clinics that offer autotransfusion and are not on our list, please write to us.

For a more detailed description of intraoperative cell salvage, see this example.

The first image above shows an example of how the system works in most clinics, and a simpler version below.