Evaluation of blood processed by cell saver in pediatric scoliosis

Abstract

^{Introduction:We study the hematological and microbiological characteristics from the autologous}

^{blood processed through the intraoperative cell saver used in our centre (Orthopat®) during the}

^{correction of pediatric scoliosis, which is known to be a potentially bleeding surgery.}

^{Material and methods: Descriptive analysis of 31 patients undergoing pediatric scoliosis surgery. All}

^{of them received blood processed by cell saver intraoperatively. The variables collected were:}

^{demographic data, volume of the autogenous red blood cell (RBC) concentrate, blood count,}

^{biochemistry, blood culture, preoperative and postoperative blood tests of the patients, incidence}

^{of fever during reinfusion of RBC concentrate, postoperative surgical site infections and length of}

^{hospital stay.}

^{Results: Average volume obtained 288.06ml (sd 154.68). Hematocrit 70.38% (sd 10.03) in}

^{accordance with cell-saver commercial data (75%). Of the blood samples obtained, 42.86%  had}

^{blood cultures that were positive for aerobes and 48.28% for anaerobes. The relation between}

^{postoperative infections and contamination of blood concentrates was not statistically significant.}

^{When comparing the pre-surgery and post-surgery analytical samples, statistically significant}

^{differences (p <0.05) were found in the following: hemoglobin and hematocrit decreased in the}

^{postoperative period, while coagulation parameters show a tendency to coagulopathy.}

^{Conclusion: Our cell saver obtains RBC concentrates with a percentage of hematocrit in agreement}

^{with available information. The reinfusion of them is safe from an infectious and biochemical point}

^{of view, but its immunological implications are not clear. This surgery continues to result in a}

^{significant loss of blood. Measures taken to avoid allogenic transfusions remain necessary and}

^{should be enhanced.}