Against a background of concerns voiced by NHS officials that significant numbers of blood donors could be lost in the UK through fears of a new test to detect Creutzfeldt-Jakob Disease (CJD), three senior hospital consultants are calling for a nationwide initiative to ensure that patients are aware of the option of having their own blood recycled during a wide range of surgical operations.

The three — all members of the Autologous Transfusion Special Interest Group (ATSIG) — are also pressing for hospital trusts to accelerate their uptake of cell-salvage equipment.

Mr John Thompson, a consultant vascular and general surgeon, at the Royal Devon and Exeter Hospital, said: "The vast majority of patients are simply not aware that for a wide range of operations, they could choose to have their own blood recycled. We need a campaign to make the public more aware of the clinical benefits of autologous transfusion and, in so doing, put pressure on hospitals to make it more generally available. People should be demanding it.

"We are committed to a policy of blood conservation and cell-salvage is a key factor. With conventional transfusion there can be a tragic waste of blood and we have to accept the fact that there are occasional instances where the wrong blood gets into the wrong patient. Autologous transfusion is a much safer option and the greater the blood loss, the more efficiently it functions," he said.

Various crises over the years, notably the potential risks of AIDS/HIV, hepatitis B and bacterial diseases from contaminated blood, had driven the change to autologous transfusion in many parts of the world, he said. But despite this, many UK hospitals are being slow to introduce the cell-salvage option.

Dr Michael Desmond, a consultant anaesthetist on the cardio-thoracic unit at Broadgreen Hospital, Liverpool, said that autologous transfusion should now be regarded as "an accepted standard of care" as had been the case in his own hospital for a number of years.

"If it is possible to collect blood during surgery, wash it and return it to the patient, it would be stupid not to do it. It is always a shame to waste blood. Conserving the general pool of banked blood by using cell salvage in operations where there is heavy bleeding can be a real lifesaver," he added.

Dr Desmond said that whilst he would still be personally happy to receive a conventional transfusion, it was not possible to eliminate all the risks of allogeneic transfusion. Screening tests are available but even so there can also be a ‘window’ of anything from one day to months during which the test would not reveal any evidence of disease which might be present," he added.

Over and above this, there was now the potential risk of vCJD. "We hope that the risk is low and the incidence of the prion protein in the population is very low but at present these are unknown. The introduction of a screening test for this condition may actually put people off donating blood." he said.

Dr Daffyd Thomas, a consultant anaesthetist at Morriston Hospital, Swansea said that there are now "several very good reasons" why the recycling of patients’ own blood was the method of choice in many areas of surgery.

He said: "It eliminates the risks of bacterial contamination and the smaller risk of HIV and vCJD infection associated with banked blood. There is no suppression of the patient’s immune system and, because increasing numbers of young people are precluded from becoming donors because of their lifestyle and sexual activity, there is a shrinking blood donor resource."

Martin Willner, spokesman for Fresenius, one of the leading manufacturers of autologous transfusion equipment said, "This technology is proven, safe and widely used in the US and elsewhere in the world. In this country, hospitals have been slower to embrace change. However, with the rising cost of blood and the possibility that the Government may ban blood transfusions from anyone who has had a blood transfusion themselves, there is now an increase of interest in systems such as CATS.