Patient Blood Management
PBM is a patient-focused approach to improving patient outcomes by minimising or avoiding unnecessary exposure to blood
components. Intraoperative Cell Salvage can be considered an integral part of a Patient Blood Management program as it
is a blood conservation measure that decreases net perioperative blood loss, maintains postoperative haemoglobin and reduces
the requirements for allogeneic blood transfusion.
When used appropriately, by adequately trained staff, Intraoperative Cell Salvage is a simple, safe cost- effective method
of reducing allogeneic transfusion. The National Blood Authority recommend WASHED cell salvage systems for
intraoperative and post-operative cell salvage, and have developed Guidelines based on the UK Cell Salvage Action Group.
http://www.blood.gov.au/system/files/documents/ics-guidance-march-2014_1.pdf
Advantages of Cell Salvage:
Patient receives their own, fresh red cells, with flexibility and oxygen carrying capacity superior to donated stored blood.
Blood availability is in proportion to losses, and there is reduced chance of receiving the incorrect blood product.
Use of salvaged blood reduces exposure to allogeneic transfusion, and therefore reduces many transfusion risks.
Patient Selection: Cell Salvage can be used in elective and emergency surgical procedures where the surgical field is not
contaminated by gastrointestinal tract contents and infective matter. It is has been proven safe and endorsed by the National
Institute for Health and Care (NICE) for use in cardiac surgery, obstetrics and malignancy.
Contact the HNE LHD Patient Blood Management Officer: Vicki.Martens@hnehealth.nsw.gov.au
Blood Falls
In 1911, Australian explorer and geologist
Griffith Taylor discovered a strange glacial
News Flash
feature in Antarctica, which is now known as
Blood Falls. It’s a bright red waterfall, nearly
five stories high, seeping through a crack in
Taylor Glacier, which flows into Antarctica’s
Lake Bonney. Geologists first believed that
the color of the water came from algae, but
the red color is known to be caused by
microbes living off sulfur and iron in oxygenfree water trapped beneath the ice for nearly
2 million years.