Time-related changes of collected shed blood in autologous retransfusion after total knee arthroplasty.

The prolonged collection of drained blood is problematic due the risk of bacterial contamination and to the exponential proliferation of bacteria at room temperature. Some countries prohibit collection exceeding 6 hours by regulations or even by law (Germany). The reported analysis cannot reflect “blood quality,” since parameters for humoral and cellular activation were not included. The high increase in IL-6 level marks only the top of the iceberg. Actually, the lack of accepted quality parameters for shed blood is one of the reasons for avoiding such retransfusions, since no quality management is possible.

– E. Hansen.