Blood Salvage System for Bypass Surgery

A blood salvage system allows surgeons to recover blood lost by a patient during and after cardiovascular surgery and makes the blood available for transfusion back to the patient. The system has been cleared by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA).

Called CardioPAT, the system is designed to ensure that patients are transfused with the safest blood possible, which is their own. A device provides better functionality that makes the system ideally suited for providing autotransfusion during off-pump, or beating-heart, surgery. The system can salvage blood lost both in the operating room and during recovery in the intensive care unit. CardioPAT is the product of Haemonetics Corp. (Braintree, MA, USA), whose Cell Saver platform created and leads the surgical blood salvage market.

Haemonetics estimated that about 20% of annual coronary artery bypass graft surgeries use the off-pump surgical technique. The company is beginning customer-acceptance trials at three U.S. sites. In prior trials in Europe, the system performed very well, the company noted.

"This is a very exciting technique that will have compelling benefits for heart patients,” remarked Dr. Andrew Owens, clinical director of cardiothoracic surgery at the James Cook University Hospital (Middlesbrough, UK), who led the first trials. "The system gives patients the advantage of getting their own blood back, but also helps ensure that banked blood is available for other patients.”




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