On Friday, the Georgetown Public Hospital Corporation (GPHC) in collaboration with the National Blood Transfusion Services (NBTS) marked a significant advancement in patient care with the first successful use of the Cell Saver system in the emergency repair of a ruptured abdominal aortic aneurysm (AAA) in an 85-year-old woman.
A release from the GPHC said that the Cell Saver is a specialized system that collects blood lost during surgery, cleans and processes it, and safely returns it to the patient. This means patients can receive their own blood back during critical procedures, reducing the need for donor blood and supporting faster resuscitation.
During this complex six-hour operation, the release said that the patient experienced blood loss of approximately four litres. The Cell Saver system successfully returned more than 500 millilitres of the patient’s own blood, with a hematocrit of 82%, helping to support her recovery during a critical stage of the procedure.
Special recognition was extended to the National Blood Transfusion Services (NBTS) team for their support throughout the procedure, particularly Dr. Pedro Lewis, Medical Director of NBTS, Kevon Spencer, Quality Manager of the Blood Bank, and Radha Ramdhari, Recruitment Officer of the Blood Bank.
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