Slagis 1991.
Methods | A prospective, randomised, clinical trial was undertaken to determine whether post‐operative blood salvage in patients undergoing total hip or knee arthroplasty decreased the need for transfusion with banked blood. The groups included all patients undergoing hip or knee arthroplasty at the University of Arizona Medical Centre between August 1, 1988 and June 1, 1989. Method of randomisation and allocation concealment were not described. | |
Participants | 109 patients undergoing total hip or knee arthroplasty were randomly assigned to one of two groups:
NB: The average age of the patients was 70 years; the study and the control groups were evenly matched for age and sex. Demographic data for each study group were not reported. Of the 109 patients who entered the study seven were excluded. |
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Interventions |
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Outcomes | Outcomes reported: amount of blood collected by the cell saver, amount of blood re‐transfused from the cell saver, amount of allogeneic blood transfused, number of patients transfused allogeneic blood, adverse events, coagulopathy, blood loss, costs. | |
Notes | Transfusion threshold: transfusion protocol was not reported. Patients who were transfused only one unit of blood received only pre‐banked autologous blood. | |
Risk of bias | ||
Bias | Authors' judgement | Support for judgement |
Random sequence generation (selection bias) | Unclear risk | Method used to generate allocation sequences was not described. |
Allocation concealment (selection bias) | Unclear risk | Method used to conceal treatment allocation was unclear. |
Blinding (performance bias and detection bias) All outcomes | High risk |