Abstract
Prevention of post-transfusion hepatitis is still a problem in cardiovascular surgery.
We initiated the cryopreservation of autologous blood for the transfusion in elective cardiovascular surgery since 1981.
This study includes 152 surgical cases in which autologous frozen, allogeneic frozen, and/or allogeneic non-frozen blood were used.
In the 152 surgical cases, there were 69 cases in which autologous blood only (Group I) was used; 12 cases with autologous and allogeneic frozen blood (Group II); 46 cases with autologous and allgeneic frozen plus allogeneic non-frozen blood (Group III); and 25 cases with allogeneic frozen plus allogeneic non-frozen blood (Group IV).
No hepatitis developed in Groups I (0%) and II (0%), but there was positive hepatitis in Groups III (4.3%) and IV (8.0%) .
In 357 cases of those who underwent surgery with allogeneic non-frozen whole blood during the same period, the incidence rate of hepatitis was 13.7% (49/357).
Patients awaiting elective surgery can store their own blood in the frozen state.
Patients who undergo surgery with the cryoautotransfusion will not produce any infections or immunologic reactions as opposed to those who undergo surgery with the allogeneic non-frozen blood.
