Indications and contraindications of cell salvage.

ultiple strategies can be applied to avoid allogeneic transfusion. The primary methods involve erythropoietin and iron supplementation, preoperative autologous donation, acute normovolemic hemodilution, and the application of cell salvage (CS) systems. Of these strategies, CS offers the greatest versatility in avoiding allogeneic red cell (RBC) transfusion. Many misconceptions and misinformation exists regarding the management of CS systems. As a result RBC salvage is frequently viewed as ineffective and expensive. In this article, some of these misconceptions will be addressed. This article will only address washed CS.