The purpose of this study was to investigate whether the salvage in the recovery room of blood from the drainage tubes of patients who had total joint arthroplasty was both feasible and efficacious. The cases of seventy-four patients who had seventy-six consecutive total hip or knee arthroplasties were studied prospectively. Intraoperative salvage of blood was performed using the Cell Saver. After closure of the fascial layer or joint capsule, the drainage tubes were connected to the Cell Saver in the operating room and remained connected in the recovery room for a mean of 2.9 hours. Blood that was collected in the recovery room was then processed and transfused back to the patient. The average amount of blood that was salvaged after different types of arthroplasty varied. The addition of bone cement to the acetabular side during primary total hip replacement decreased the amount of postoperative bleeding and of salvaged blood (p = 0.018), whereas cementing the femoral component had no statistically significant effect. Revision total hip replacement also resulted in more bleeding and in the collection of more blood in the recovery room than did primary total hip replacement (p = 0.03), especially if cement was not used (p less than 0.001). There were no statistical differences in the amount of blood that was collected in the recovery room after unilateral, bilateral, primary, or revision total knee replacement.(ABSTRACT TRUNCATED AT 250 WORDS)