From April 1993 to July 1996, the records of 119 patients (mean age: 69) undergoing urologic surgeries were analyzed to evaluate the influence and efficacy of autologous blood transfusion. The mean total blood volume (TBV) and collected blood volume of these patients were 4, 110 ml and 687.9 ml. The levels of hemoglobin decreased gradually after blood collection. However, they never fell below 10 g/dl. It appears that the use of r-EPO allows the collection of a sufficient volume of autologous blood without the occurrence of anemia associated with phlebotomy.
Allogenic blood transfusion was dupensed with 68% for patients who underwent radical prostatectomy or total cystectomy, and 100% for those who underwent retropubic prostatectomy or transurethral resection of the prostate (TUR-P).
We concluded that autologous blood transfusion is significantly effective for patients undergoing surgeries of benign prostatic hypertrophy, while there is room for further reduction in allogenic blood exposure in patients for surgery of malignancy.