NO TRANSFUSED BLOOD is as safe for a surgery patient as his or her own.
And given that it's sometimes impossible to operate with no transfused blood, an increasing number of surgeons are choosing to go the autologous route. A report at the annual meeting in Atlanta, Ga, of the American College of Surgeons drew one map of the possible terrain ahead.
Steven A. Gould, MD, associate professor of surgery at Michael Reese Hospital and Medical Center, Chicago, Ill, related its Department of Surgery's experience with the autologous blood program set up in December 1987. Gould credits the success of the comprehensive program in large part to the efforts of its special coordinator, Mary Stankos, RN. Other participants include Arthur L. Rosen, PhD; Lakshman R. Sehgal, PhD; Hansa L. Sehgal, MT; Phillip J. DeChristopher, MD; Armando R. Orlina, MD; and Gerald S. Moss, MD.
This Michael Reese program involved 161