[The place of intra- and postoperative autotransfusion in the exchange of a hip endoprosthesis].

Intraoperative autologous transfusion with a cell separator is being employed to an increasing extent in orthopedic procedures associated with high blood loss, including surgery for exchange total hip arthroplasty. Postoperative loss of blood via drains after exchange total hip replacement is also considerable. To our knowledge, there are only unpublished reports on postoperative autotransfusion in this type of surgery. In this study the role of intra- and postoperative autotransfusion is investigated.