Rarely requested

Saving your own blood for major surgery?

Using autologous blood for serious operations.

(Bild: APA/dpa/Ina Fassbender)

Autologous blood donation, also known as autologous blood donation, is a procedure in which a person donates their own blood before a planned operation, which is then used for a possible transfusion during or after the procedure. Many experts are now questioning whether this makes sense.

Patient blood management is a treatment concept to increase patient safety during operations with an increased risk of bleeding. Autologous blood donation - is it still done at all? This was one question put to the experts at the Pharmacists' Congress, which recently took place in Schladming (Styria).

Rarely in demand
"In the past, this offer was often taken up, but today it is actually rather rare," explained Ao. Univ-Prof. Dr. Thomas Wagner, University Clinic for Blood Group Serology and Transfusion Medicine at the Medical University of Graz. "All too often, the patient comes into the operating room with a poor blood count - and then we don't need the blood after all. However, it still makes sense for special blood clotting diseases or for certain religious communities."

Possible advantages

• There are no tolerance problems or risk of an immune reaction.
• Its use reduces the risk of infections that could be transmitted by foreign blood transfusions.
• Because less outside blood is needed, autologous donation helps to conserve donor blood supplies and reduce the burden on the healthcare system.
• Patients may feel more comfortable knowing that they are receiving their own blood.

However, donating your own blood before an operation requires careful planning. It usually requires several visits to the blood donation service in order to donate enough lifeblood. In the case of an autologous blood donation, the period between the last donation appointment and the operation should be at least two weeks.

Not suitable for everyone
Not every patient is suitable, for example if they have a blood disorder. By examining the blood and determining the red blood cell count, it can generally be determined whether autologous blood can be collected. It should also be borne in mind that the amount of autologous blood that can be donated is limited, and in some cases it may be that additional blood from another donor is required.