Efficacy of intraoperative cell salvage systems in pediatric idiopathic scoliosis patients undergoing posterior spinal fusion with segmental spinal instrumentation.

This paper is not a prospective study, it uses a small historical control group but it still has merit. Apart from hemodilution and a transfusion trigger applied to both groups, cell salvage was the only difference between the two groups and led to an impressive decrease in allogeneic transfusion in the cases where cell salvage was used. Analysis also showed no residual heparin and hematuria was not a problem. Use of cell salvage in these cases is not widely accepted and this well-written study will probably persuade more centers to consider its use.

– Dafydd Thomas