In the July 19 issue of Archives of Surgery, Dr. Carlos Brown, medical director of trauma services at University Medical Center Brackenridge in Austin, TX, provides evidence that reusing a trauma patient’s own blood has several positive benefits. Complications that can result from transfusions of donated blood include adverse reactions and risk of disease transmission, which are mitigated when the doctors capture, filter and return blood to the patient.
While reuse of patients’ blood is relatively common in planned surgeries, the same does not hold true in emergency surgeries such as those that occur following traumatic events like car collisions. Brown said that’s because there must be a specialist–a perfusionist–on staff who can perform the procedure. In light of the shortage of donated blood and the decreased risk from reusing blood, Brown believes that trauma centers should look to adopt the procedure more widely.
Read more about the study in this U.S. News story.