Cell Salvage – State of the Art and Cost‐Effectiveness

Abstract

SUMMARYCell salvage is an autologous blood transfusion technique, which has been in common use for over twenty years. It has the obvious potential to reduce allogeneic blood usage as fresh red cells that would otherwise be lost are reinfused. Properly used, there is no risk of clerical error and no need to screen for transmissible disease. Although used extensively in the USA and Europe, the adoption of cell salvage, and indeed all autologous blood transfusion techniques, has been very slow in the UK. This may be partly due to the paucity of adequately powered randomized clinical trials demonstrating the efficacy and cost‐effectiveness of cell salvage. This article will review these aspects of cell salvage with particular emphasis on its routine use in vascular surgery.