Minimizing blood loss is a major goal of any surgical procedure. Blood loss is more of a problem in some surgical procedures than in others.

In orthopaedic surgery, there are several ways to deal with this potential problem of excessive blood loss. Many orthopaedic surgical procedures deal with the extremities, and tourniquets are routinely used to prevent bleeding during the operation. Surgery of the elbow, hand, wrist, knee, foot and ankle are examples.

In some orthopaedic procedures, however, tourniquets cannot be used, and a certain amount of blood loss is inevitable. Hip surgery and spine surgery are typical cases. In order to deal with potential blood loss in these types of cases, other techniques are available.

First, specific medications can be given to patients several weeks before the operation to help increase or build up their blood count, so that they essentially have an extra amount of blood at the time of surgery. Therefore, when they lose blood during surgery, it is not so critical.

Secondly, during the operation, a blood cell saver suction device can be used to retrieve the patient's lost blood in the wound, wash it and make it ready for the patient at the end of the case. This is a closed system within the body and does not represent stored blood. This type of blood salvage is acceptable to most patients and is used frequently.

Also during surgery, the anesthesiologist can safely keep the patient's blood pressure lower than normal to help prevent excessive bleeding during the case.

Finally, medications are given after surgery to help the body more quickly replenish its own blood volume. Some or all of these techniques can be used in most orthopaedic cases to help minimize excessive blood loss and can be performed safely without the need for transfusions.