The cases of fifty-two patients who underwent sixty elective spinal
fusions for spinal deformity were studied to evaluate the efficacy of the
use of banked autologous blood to replace operative loss of blood. The
patients ranged in age from ten to forty-nine years. Each patient began to
take 325 milligrams of ferrous sulphate, three times a day, as soon as
surgery was scheduled, and was evaluated weekly at the Shepeard Community
Blood Bank. If a patient's hemoglobin level was more than eleven milligrams
per 100 milliliters, either a whole unit of blood or a half-unit was drawn
at each visit. An average of 3.3 units of blood (range, 1.5 to 6.0 units)
was obtained and was stored for as long as forty-two days. Either citrate
phosphate dextrose with adenine (CPDA-1) or adenine, dextrose, and mannitol
(ADSOL) was used as a preservative. In 85 per cent of the procedures only
autologous blood was required for transfusion. This method proved to be
simple, safe, and very well accepted.