Methods	Prospective, randomised controlled trial was conducted to determine the effectiveness of a post-operative autologous blood re-infusion system as an alternative to allogeneic, banked blood in patients undergoing unilateral total knee replacement between January 2002 to November 2004
Participants	60 patients undergoing unilateral total knee replacement were randomly allocated to one of two groups: Group 1 (Autotransfusion group): n=30; M//F=6//24; mean age = 69.2 years Group 2 (Control group): n=30; M//F=7//23; mean age = 70.2 years
Interventions	Group 1: Autotransfusion group (Gish Orthofuser system) had their shed blood collected and re-infused within 6 hours after the collection was initiated. Allogeneic blood transfused was supplied post-operatively when required. No banked blood was given intra-operatively. Group 2: Control group had a standard wound drainage system. Allogeneic blood transfused was supplied post-operatively when required. One unit of banked blood was given intra-operatively.
Outcomes	Outcomes reported: number of patients transfused allogeneic blood, amount of allogeneic blood transfused, volume of blood re-transfused from the cell saver, blood loss, Hb & Hct levels
Notes	Transfusion threshold: the criteria for allogeneic blood transfusion post-operatively were the values of haemoglobin (lower than 9.0g/dL) in correlation with the clinical signs of the patient
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 not described
Blinding (performance bias and detection bias) All outcomes	High risk