Autologous Blood Transfusion for Oral Surgery

Abstract

The safety of homologous blood transfusion has recently been improved by the irradiation of donated blood and the screening of this blood for infections, including HIV and hepatitis. During the window period of this process, however, patients remain at risk of contracting an infection from infused homologous blood and other minor infections. Therefore autologous blood transfusion is practiced to minimize the risk of infection and to avoid G.V.H. D. (Graft versus host disease).
We anesthesiologists recommend whenever possible an autologous blood transfusion during oral surgery. As part of a comprehensive review of our transfusion policy in the oral surgery department, we retrospectively studied cases of patients who had received an autologous blood transfusion during oral surgery at some time from January 1991 to August 2000 at Showa University Dental Hospital. Hospital policy dictates that an autologous blood transfusion is performed whenever possible during surgical intervention for maxillofacial deformities, but it presently is not widely practiced at our hospital during malignant tumor surgery because a greater volume of autologous blood is required. To date, however, we have successfully decreased intraoperative blood loss by using hypotensive anesthesia and transfusing autologous blood whenever possible.
To optimize the prognosis for patients who receive a blood transfusion during oral surgery and to increase the number of autologous blood transfusions for patients undergoing malignant tumor surgery, we would benefit from further knowledge of the most appropriate method of autologous blood transfusion as well as known and potential limitations, and its influence on hemodynamics. Therefore we will comprehensively review the literature before revising hospital transfusion policy.