Abstract
Since the incidence of complications associated with blood transfusion are directly proportional to the frequency of exposure, blood sav-ing and reduction in usage of bank blood should be employed whenever possible. We have developed a new chest drainage unit for transfusion of shed mediastinal blood after open cardiac surgery. It is composed of two parts, blood collection bottle with capacity of 500ml and conventional chest draina-ge unit, linked with each other. The former has air inlet port with bacteria filter at its uppermost and infusion port at the bottom, both of which make reinfusion of collecting blood with gravity beco-me easy. We used this device in 5 patients with CABG and investigated hematological and biochemical changes after reinfusion of shed mediastinal blood. There was no serious complication related to its use and it could save about 400ml of blood. In comparison with other l4patients who underwent open heart surgery and were transfused with shed mediastinal blood postoperatively collected in a cardio-tomy reservoir and infused with a pump, almost equal effect of blood saving were achieved.
