Transfusion practice in urological surgery: modifications in association with the introduction of an autologous blood donor programme.

The transfusion records of 122 urological patients who had deposited one or more units of autologous blood were analysed. The 95 patients undergoing radical prostatectomy were arbitrarily divided into two cohorts (the first 47 patients enrolled, and the last 48 enrolled) to assess changes in use of blood. The avoidance of allogeneic transfusion in radical prostatectomy was 64% in the first cohort studied, and increased to 81% in the second. There was a significant decline in the mean absolute amounts of blood used from 4.47 to 2.54 units per patient from the first to second cohorts. Introduction of an autologous blood donor programme has been associated with a reduction in total blood use for radical prostatectomy, and a decrease in the number of patients exposed to allogeneic blood. The validity of an autologous blood-order schedule of 3 units for radical prostatectomy is supported.