"Patients not suffering from anaemia before an operation do not need autologous blood donations prior to a primary knee or hip implantation. This routine measure has not been medically indicated for a long time in all cases and often only leads to an increased transfusion rate. At the same time, many autologous blood donations are disposed of after the operation because they are not needed. Instead, we should concentrate on blood management for patients whose preoperative haemoglobin level is too low...
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