Now,donate your blood to yourself

Though autologous blood transfusion is possible in any kind of surgery,it is most aptly suited for knee and joint replacement surgeries. “Since the bones are cut,at least 600 ml to a litre of blood comes out of the body. This significant volume of blood loss makes such a method of transfusion very attractive for patients,” says Dr Patil.

Another patient,Sujoy Gupta,who underwent a knee replacement surgery with autologous blood transfusion recalls it as ‘unbelievably smooth sailing’. “I used to be in constant pain,and I wasn’t sure how the surgery would turn out. But it was all over so fast,without any transfusion related risks. All my problems vanished in one-and-a-half weeks after the surgery.”

Dr SP Ghosh,a surgeon,also chose this method of transfusion for his 25-year-old son’s knee replacement surgery 3 years ago. “My son had met with a severe accident and we did not want to take any further risks. But since this method was not available in Mumbai at that time,we travelled to Calcutta for his surgery. Everything went smoothly. It is great that the surgery has been introduced in Mumbai too.”

While a growing number of doctors are recommending this technique,the costs involved restrict this technique to private hospitals. While a bottle of blood costs Rs 700-800,in this case,the total equipment expenses go up to Rs 4,500,and a patient has to shell out Rs 7,000 at an average.