Intraoperative, salvaged, autologous blood transfusion in oncologic surgery

Intraoperative, salvaged, autologous blood transfusions carried out with autotransfusion devices are commonly used for cardiovascular surgery, and also enable the treatment of massive hemorrhage in orthopedic and gynecologic surgeries to prevent potential complications of homologous blood transfusions, such as transmission of infection, immune reactions, and blood type incompatibility. Transfusion of salvaged blood in oncologic surgery may cause hematogenous metastasis and dissemination of malignant tumor cells. However, some investigators have reported that blood irradiation or filtration using leukocyte reduction filters can prevent contamination by malignant tumor cells. Intraoperative autotransfusion with the combination of blood irradiation and leukocyte reduction filters could be therefore a promising technique for the treatment of profuse hemorrhage in oncologic surgery.