Waste Blood During Operations

When they have blood transfusions, it happens in a closed circuit. During an operation they try to stop as much blood as possible by stopping off the vessels. The blood they lose has been contaminated with cleaning pads, disinfectants and is oxidized or got to solidification process. I don't think that you want all that back in your body.

Oh i know its contaminated but its a shame they couldnt devise a way of cleaning it and reuseing it even if only the plasma part.

Hope youve fixed the merc

During my lower back fusion opp they did clean and reuse the blood. (standard practice)

I cant remember why but I suppose it makes sense in SA with a high ratio of HIV positive bodies.

There are some surgeries that blood is collected, filtered and reused. Some religious convictions mandate that this must be done whenever possible. It is usually more expensive to recycle a patient's blood. At the same time blood can only be stored for so long. This means that possible accidents and emergencies that require a transfusion for survival must have a regular refresh of donor blood "just in case". Instead of letting this blood go unused, selective surgeries also tap into this supply when needed. Some people will have their own blood drawn and stored prior to an anticipated surgery.

When it comes to replacing your lost blood, you can't beat your own blood.

There is no absolute guarantee that a surgery room is as sanitary as can be hoped. There have been cases where prior operations have contaminated subsequent operations due to improper cleanups. Hepatitis, HIV, MRB, and many other serious cross contaminants survive. We still do not have the filtering capacity to rid the body of these issues with microbes or we would use live filtering of patients to rid them of disease. I for one don't want my spilled blood "sponged" up and supposedly treated to the point of reuse. I would not trust it. Recycling as in open heart surgery under a closed system is different. If you didn't have any of the above microbial issues to start, it will be remote that you will acquire a surgical room contamination under a closed filtration system. I have placed my life in the hands of surgeons under such conditions but I still was worried.

true i would worrie about the cleanliness issue as well, I would imagine eventually the equipment would be avalable one day to fully clean etc the used blood.

Just a thought as it is used blood would it have clotting agent in as the body would be trying to stop the bleeding and i suppose this agent would need to be removed before putting back into the body or there could be some serious clotting problems as the blood starts to recirculate

Wherever possible safely it is being done routinely. Bioramani

The technology involve to recycle blood and be reused has been available for quite some time now. Due to relative expense, associated to such type of services and procedures, it is mostly available from major medical centers only. Most common requests are frequently driven by religious beliefs and practices, also commonly done on none emergency or planned surgical cases only.

The process is known as 'autologous' transfusion. Most of the blood from the patient during surgery are collected, cleaned and reinfused back to the same patient. Like anything else, the process is not going to be 100% efficient, 10% or so of the blood will be lost or waisted.

This process is commonly done. In the US it is called "cell saver". In the area I live, the red cross maintains the equipment that can safely filter and reintroduce the blood to the patient. The surgeon just sets up with them to provide the process ahead of time. Many large hospitals have it as an option for all patients.

You are correct, to be more specific, "cell saver" is the trade name of the device used on this process and it is manufactured by Haemonetics - a company specializing mostly in blood related products.