Necessity for autologous blood storage and transfusion in patients undergoing pancreatoduodenectomy.

Purpose: To establish which patients undergoing pancreaticoduodenectomy (PD) need autologous blood storage and transfusion. Methods: Autologous blood was collected and stored for 69 patients scheduled to undergo PD, and not used in 50 patients. Based on the use of the deposited autologous blood and the estimated postoperative hemoglobin (Hb) level when blood was not deposited, we divided the patients into a 'transfusion necessary' group and a 'transfusion unnecessary' group. By comparing the two groups, we proposed a method of scoring to predict the necessity for storing autologous blood. Results: The 'transfusion necessary' group comprised 6 patients (2 who received homologous blood transfusion and 4 with an estimated postoperative Hb of <8.0 g/dL) and the 'transfusion unnecessary' group comprised 63 patients (24 whose autologous blood was discarded and 39 with an estimated Hb ≥8.0 g/dL). By analyzing the differences between the groups, including the preoperative hemoglobin level and the need for portal vein resection, we devised a scoring system to predict the necessity of collecting autologous blood. The scoring significantly correlated with the proportion of patients who did not require autologous blood storage and transfusion. Conclusions: Not all patients benefited from autologous blood storage and transfusion. Our scoring system proved useful for identifying which patients required autologous blood storage and transfusion during PD. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]