Guidelines for policies on alternatives to allogeneic blood transfusion. 1. Predeposit autologous blood donation and transfusion

This is the first of a series of newly prepared guidelines on alternatives to allogeneic blood transfusion. Further guidelines including the use of cell salvage and of pharmacological approaches to blood conservation will be published in due course. Decades of clinical application demonstrate that it is quite feasible to auto- transfuse blood that has been collected and stored for an interval of up to 6 weeks in standard storage media, and that up to three standard collection volumes ( approximately 500 mL) can be collected from normal- sized adults ( over 50 kg) during that interval. Furthermore, systems have been developed to reduce risk to participants and to boost haemoglobin ( Hb) production during and after the procedure. However, such ' pre- operative autologous donations ' ( PAD) are not without risk, are of low clinical efficacy and are poorly cost- effective for the vast majority of patients in the UK. These guidelines update those previously issued by the BCSH and do not recommend the practice and use of PAD unless the clinical circumstances are exceptional. They also give an update on the legal regulatory circumstances pertaining to the UK following recent European Directives.