Safety and efficacy of a simple cardiotomy suction system as a blood salvage procedure during off-pump coronary artery bypass surgery.

The ideal blood-salvaging strategies for off-pump coronary artery bypass graft procedures have not been determined. We developed a new blood-salvaging system that uses a cardiotomy suction. The purpose of this study was to examine the efficacy of this novel method. This was a retrospective study involving 50 consecutive patients undergoing off-pump coronary artery bypass grafting. In 25 patients, a simple cardiotomy suction system was used (cardiotomy suction group). These individuals were compared with 25 historical cohorts who were treating with the conventional cell saver system (cell saver group). There was no in-hospital mortality in either group. In the cell saver group, there was one major complication (stroke) and two minor complications (saphenous vein graft occlusion, superficial wound infection). In the cardiotomy suction group, there was one minor complication (subclinical pulmonary emboli). The cardiotomy suction group received significantly fewer transfused RBC (cardiotomy: 0.56 ± 1.4 units vs. cell saver: 2.46 ± 3.3 units, p = 0.005). The serum total protein and albumin levels were significantly higher in the cardiotomy group. Our newly developed simple cardiotomy suction system, when compared with the conventional cell saver system, produced similar clinical results and attenuated postoperative hemodilution. Our system may emerge as a preferable alternative for blood salvage during off-pump coronary artery bypass grafting.