Abstract
Since October 1993, autologous blood donation was performed in 7 patients (ABD group) prior to pulmonary decortication or pleuropneumonectomy for chronic empyema. All eligible patients had hemoglobin concentrations above 11.0g/dl, and no abnormalities of quantity and quality of platelets, or of the coagulation, or fibrolytic systems. The efficacy of autologous blood transfusion was compared with the results of surgery before September 1993, in 13 patients in whom above-mentioned factors for donation were present but whose autologous blood was not donated (control group).
The Mean volume of the preoperative donated blood was 1090±182g in the ABD group. Three patients in the ABD group (43%) and 13 (100%) in the control group were transfused with homologous blood perioperatively. The ABD group received 154±201 g of homologous blood compared with 1390±779g for the control group. The differences between two groups in regard to reaction and to volume of homologous blood transfusion were significant. We conclude that autologous blood transfusion before radical surgery for chronic empyema is effective.
