The risks associated with the transfusion of homologous blood, plus a chronic lack of blood, have led doctors and patients to consider auto-transfusion schedules. In our opinion the pre-operative collection of blood is of primary social importance, as it involves a low percentage of risk with acceptable costs and countless advantages, not least that of avoiding homologous transfusions. The aim of this work is to show that autologous blood collections and transfusions in elective surgery must be rationalised in order to avoid a high percentage of autologous bags remaining unused in low-risk operations and conversely patients being obliged to receive homologous blood in high-risk operations.
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