| Abstract: | Summary Orthopaedic patients undergoing mainly hip and knee replacement surgery and who were transfused with autologous blood which they had donated prior to surgery, were compared with similar patients who had been transfused only with homologous blood, with respect to rates of wound and other infections, need for therapeutic antibiotics, and length of post-operative hospital stay. Participants in the autologous scheme spent significantly less time in hospital than the control group (mean 16 vs 21 days), and there was a trend in favour of autologous transfusion in rates of infection and antibiotic usage. |
