Blood availability for the trauma patient-autotransfusion.

Recovery of intrathoracic and intraperitoneal blood and reinfusion by autotransfusion has been demonstrated to be safe and practical in selected trauma patients. Autotransfusion is ideally applicable to the trauma patient in whom replacement of six or fewer units of blood is required. In addition, autotransfusion provides readily available blood for patients with unusual blood types and for those in whom multiple transfusions may rapidly deplete available stores. The properties of an ideal autotransfusion device include rapid assembly, relatively low cost, ease of operation, in-line filtration, minimized air blood interface, simplified anticoagulation, and safety from air embolism and coagulopathies.