Table 2.

Perioperative haemoglobin levels, net total blood loss and visual analogue scale (VAS) pain scores

	ABT	Drain	P valuemm
Hemoglobin level (g/dl)
Day −1	14.2 (1.3)	14.1 (0.9)	0.66
Day 1	11.4 (1.4)	10.8 (1.2)	0.02
Day 2	11.1 (1.4)	10.7 (1.2)	0.07
Day 3	11.0 (1.2)	10.4 (1.2)	0.007
Lowest	10.7 (1.4)	10.1 (1.2)	0.02
Total blood loss (ml)	1472 (531)	1678 (503)	0.03
Pain (VAS)
Preoperative rest/exercise	3.7 (2.8)/6.4 (2.2)	3.8 (2.4)/6.7 (2.1)	ns
Day 1 postoperatively rest/exercise	3.1 (2.2)/5.0 (2.2)	2.9 (1.8)/4.8 (2.2)	ns
Day 3 postoperatively rest/exercise	2.2 (1.8)/4.3 (2.1)	2.1 (1.9)/3.6 (2.0)	ns
Discharge rest/exercise	1.6 (1.5)/3.1 (1.6)	1.8 (1.8)/3.1 (2.0)	ns
6 weeks postoperatively rest/exercise	0.5 (1.3)/2.0 (2.0)	0.8 (1.4)/2.1 (2.0)	ns
3 months postoperatively rest/exercise	0.3 (1.0)/1.2 (2.1)	0.5 (1.0)/1.6 (2.0)	ns

Means (standard deviation)

ABT autologous blood re-transfusion, Drain high-vacuum closed-suction drainage