Published in:
01-02-2021 | Letter to the Editor
Letter to the Editor: A Last Resort When There is No Blood: Experiences and Perceptions of Intraoperative Autotransfusion Among Medical Doctors Deployed to Resource-Limited Settings
Authors:
Nakul P. Raykar, Anusha Jayaram, Juan Carlos Puyana, Nobhojit Roy
Published in:
World Journal of Surgery
|
Issue 2/2021
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Excerpt
We congratulate Sjöholm, Älgå, von Schreeb, and the World Journal of Surgery for a thoughtful highlight of an important issue [
1]. Access to timely blood transfusion in low- and middle-income countries (LMIC) is dire. There is a 102 million unit deficit in the 119 countries—mostly in sub-Saharan Africa, south and southeast Asia, and Oceana—where blood need is greater than supply [
2]. “Self-built” intraoperative autotransfusion (IAT) is one method of closing the gap on unmet blood need in emergent surgical situations when banked blood is scarce. Many of our colleagues in LMICs in South Asia and South America report using the technique in these circumstances. As is clear from this study, however, challenges exist in widespread adoption as ‘self-built’ IAT requires time, training, and culture change. …
