Methods |
Randomised controlled trial was conducted to investigate the influence of processing both shed mediastinal blood and residual cardiopulmonary bypass (CPB) blood in patients undergoing isolated primary elective myocardial re‐vascularisation. Patients were randomly allocated to intervention or control using sealed, opaque, sequentially numbered envelopes. The sequence of allocations was obtained from a computer‐generated random number list. Clinicians in the Intensive Care Unit were blinded to the group. |
Participants |
30 patients undergoing isolated primary elective myocardial re‐vascularisation were randomly allocated to one of two groups:
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Interventions |
Group 1: Autotransfusion group had their mediastinal and residual CPB blood processed by a continuous autotransfusion system (C.A.T.S. Frensenius, HemoCare) before reinfusion using the quality wash protocol.
Group 2: Control group did not receive autotransfusion.
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Outcomes |
Outcomes reported: number of patients transfused allogeneic blood, plasma D‐dimer levels. |
Notes |
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Risk of bias |
Bias |
Authors' judgement |
Support for judgement |
Random sequence generation (selection bias) |
Low risk |
Method used to generate allocation sequences was adequate. |
Allocation concealment (selection bias) |
High risk |
Method used to conceal treatment allocation was inadequate. |
Blinding (performance bias and detection bias)
All outcomes |
High risk |
Single‐blind. |