Intraoperative Blood Salvage

Intraoperative blood salvage, also known as cell salvage, is a specific type of autologous blood transfusion, a medical procedure involving recovering blood lost during surgery and re-infusing it into the patient, and it is a major form of autotransfusion. It has been used for many years and gained greater attention over time as the risks associated with allogenic, or separate donor, blood transfusion have become more fully appreciated. Several medical devices have been developed to assist in salvaging a patient own blood in the perioperative setting, and the procedure is frequently used in cardiothoracic and vascular surgery, where blood usage has traditionally been high, as part of a broader effort to avoid adverse transfusion events through blood conservation.