Application of intraoperative hemodilutional autotransfusion for surgical treatment of oral carcinoma and mandibular reconstruction after surgery

Abstract

We studied clinical indications for the hemodilutional autotransfusion method in patients who underwent surgery for carcinoma and mandibular reconstruction after surgery. The study group comprised 11 patients who underwent hemodilutional autotransfusion (9 undergoing surgery for oral carcinoma and 2 undergoing mandibular reconstruction). The mean predicted blood loss was 991 ml, whereas the mean actual blood loss was 1075 ml. Two patients received homologous blood transfusions because their blood loss was more than 500 ml higher (1650 ml, 1950 ml) than the predicted blood loss. The avoidance rate of homologous transfusion was 81.8%(9/11).
No patient had serious complications. We conclude that hemodilutional autotransfusion is useful provided that the actual blood loss is less than 1200 ml in patients with oral carcinoma.