Continuous improvement of our autologous blood donation program carried out during 10 years in 1198 orthopaedic patients

The baseline haemoglobin level is a strong predictor of blood transfusion after elective, unilateral, primary total hip or knee arthroplasty. On the basis of these findings, we do not recommend autologous predonation for patients with a baseline haemoglobin level of >14 g/dl moreover we always recommend the use of a blood cell salvage system and a constant audit of pre-operative autologous blood donation (PABD) to avoid unnecessary expense and waste.