[Limits and expansion of the clinical use of salvaging autologous transfusion].

As salvaging autologous transfusion(SAT) is conducted by employing blood lost by the patient during surgery, the limits of its clinical use are automatically determined. A thorough understanding of the characteristics and problems of SAT to reduce complications and to avoid the use of homologous blood should lead to the expansion of its clinical use. To achieve an expansion of SAT's use the following steps should be taken. Combining of SAT with another method of autotransfusion, increasing of the preoperative blood volume(volume of erythrocytes), prevention of destruction of erythrocytes in the process of bleeding, salvaging, cleaning and concentration (improvement in the rate of salvaging), preservation of the function of the erythrocytes obtained, immediate salvaging of blood by reduction in the processing time, improvement in the salvaging rate, recycling of the plasma substance separated in the process, removal of mixed harmful substances(malignant tumor cells, urine, bacteria), extension of indications, extension of subjects for whom SAT may be used to children, increase in the remuneration point in the Health Care System, and improvement in the limits of hemodilution of the organic body.