Objective: To compare the clinical outcomes of simple salvage autotransfusion and homologous blood transfusion in the management of ruptured ectopic pregnancies.
Methods: Standard statistical analysis was done and relative risk (RR) and 95% confidence interval (CI) were calculated for 112 women randomized to salvage autotransfusion or donor blood transfusion following ruptured ectopic pregnancy.
Results: More women in the autologous group received more than 1000 mL of blood (RR, 6.41; 95% CI, 2.75-15.24) and had a hematocrit greater than 0.27 at discharge (RR, 3.62; 95% CI, 1.41-6.67). There were no significant differences in the incidence of postoperative fever (RR, 0.95; 95% CI, 0.43-2.01), postoperative wound infection (RR, 0.73; 95% CI, 0.17-3.19) or duration of hospital stay longer than 7 days (RR, 1.3; 95% CI, 0.44-4.31).
Conclusion: In resource-poor countries, women with a ruptured ectopic pregnancy receive more blood with salvage autotransfusion.