Guidelines aim to increase safe use of blood salvage recycling technique during surgery
New patient safety guidelines have been issued that aim to increase the use of a technique that enables blood lost during operations to be recycled and transfused back into the patient in about 12 minutes.
Online, October 26, 2009 (Newswire.com) - New patient safety guidelines have been issued on an increasingly popular technique that enables blood lost during operations to be recycled and transfused back into the patient in about 12 minutes.
The Association of Anaesthetists of Great Britain and Ireland (AAGBI) hopes that the guidelines will lead to the increased use of intra-operative cell salvage (ICS), which is better for the patient than donated blood and can even be used by Jehovah's Witnesses with their consent.
A survey by the UK Cell Salvage Action Group suggests that almost half of UK hospitals do not have access to the technique, which involves capturing blood lost during operations, using a special machine to clean it up and then giving it back to the patient.
"ICS is already proving very popular in some hospitals, but it is not being used as widely as it could be" says Professor Mike Wee from Dorset, who co-chaired the AAGBI Working Party that produced the guidelines.
"The main aim of the AAGBI's new guidelines is to facilitate and promote the safe and competent use of ICS to enhance patient care.
"Using the patient's own blood has a number of advantages. You reduce the risk of a patient being given the wrong blood, which is a problem that you see up and down the country, and you don't have the problem of donated blood causing immunological reactions in a patient, which can suppress their ability to fight infections.
"Then there are the advantages to people whose religion forbids them using donated blood, like Jehovah's Witnesses. They have actively promoted cell salvage and have even supplied some hospitals with the equipment needed."
"ICS has traditionally been used in surgery where there is high blood loss, such as cardiac and vascular surgery and liver and kidney transplants" adds Dr Dafydd Thomas from South Wales, the Working Party's other co-Chair.
"But opinion is still divided about using ICS in certain cases, for example if the blood could be contaminated with bacteria, amniotic fluid during childbirth or malignant cancer cells. The AAGBI guidance provides advice to help clinicians weigh up the latest evidence, together with the risks and benefits for individual patients."
Other key recommendations in Blood Transfusion and The Anaesthetist: Intra-operative Cell Salvage cover the management arrangements needed to offer a safe and effective ICS service.
They also stress the importance of explaining the procedure to patients at pre-operative assessment clinics and the need to document ICS use in procedures to aid future planning and quality assurance.
"We would be keen to see greater use of this technique, as it is cost-effective for the NHS and clinically desirable for the patients" says Dr Thomas. "If I was due to undergo surgery, then I would not hesitate to agree to the procedure and I would happily recommend it to friends and family."
The new guidelines have received the endorsement or support of the following bodies: British Orthopaedic Association, College of Anaesthetists of Ireland, Royal College of Obstetricians & Gynaecologists. Royal College of Surgeons in Ireland, Royal College of Surgeons of Edinburgh, Royal College of Surgeons of England, Vascular Anaesthesia Society of Great Britain and Ireland and Vascular Society of Great Britain and Ireland.
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Further information
Annette Whibley, Wizard Communications
wizard.media@virgin.net
Notes to editors
• The Association of Anaesthetists of Great Britain and Ireland is a leading representative body for anaesthetists in the UK and overseas and is one of the UK's largest single grant providers for anaesthetic research. It currently has around 10,000 members.
• Anaesthetists are specialist doctors involved in the care of two-thirds of all hospital patients. Their expertise extends beyond the main operating theatre to acute and chronic pain management, leading resuscitation teams, managing Intensive Care Units, working in maternity units, accident and emergency departments and radiology, the care of some dental patients and the transfer of critically ill patients.