Estimation of blood loss during elective surgery at Kenyatta National Hospital

Abstract

Blood loss from major surgery IS a great challenge which has become even more significant considering the unavailability of blood for replacement during surgery. It was therefore prudent to determine the amount of blood lost during various major operations for purposes of planning about which surgical units need more attention in terms of provision of blood conservation equipment and those that need more blood units stored for their surgeries. Therefore this study was done to assess blood loss during elective surgery this would go a long way in furnishing Kenyatta National Hospital with this vital information. The study enrolled 65 cases which included major general surgical and orthopaedic, cardiothoracic and neurosurgical operations. It was found that some surgical units requested blood and infrequently utilised it as their operations had minimal intra-operative blood losses. It was also found that pharmacological agents for minimising blood loss were not used. The overall mean estimated blood loss for all the cases was 492.77mls.