Thirty-five patients who were to have posterior spinal arthrodesis,
total hip arthroplasty, or total knee arthroplasty were entered into one of
two groups: Group A, to receive unwashed, filtered sanguineous drainage
from the wound, or Group B, to receive washed, filtered drainage. The
purpose of this prospective study was to evaluate the safety, efficacy, and
difficulty of reinfusion of washed compared with unwashed drainage that had
been salvaged from the wound after an orthopaedic operation. The sixteen
patients in Group A received a mean of 475 milliliters of unwashed drainage
for each total knee arthroplasty, 427 milliliters for each total hip
arthroplasty, and ten milliliters for the one posterior spinal arthrodesis.
The complications included immediate hypotension (two patients),
hyperthermia (one patient), and hypotension five hours after reinfusion
(one patient). The latter patient died, four days after the operation, of a
massive myocardial infarction. The nineteen patients in Group B received a
mean of 193 milliliters of washed, filtered drainage for each total knee
arthroplasty, 203 milliliters for each total hip arthroplasty, and 179
milliliters for each posterior spinal arthrodesis. Salvage and reinfusion
of washed drainage from the wound caused no problems in these patients.