Is type and screen only policy safe for patients undergoing elective lobectomy?

Objective: The purpose of this study was to establish the safety and feasibility of a recently adopted policy to type and screen (TS) (group and save) only for selected patients who had low likelihood of transfusion requirement.

Methods: The TS only policy was applied to patients undergoing first-time elective lobectomy with Hb of >11 g/dl, aged <70 years, with no clotting abnormality and no history of neoadjuvant therapy. A retrospective analysis of prospectively collected data was made of 208 consecutive patients undergoing elective lobectomy from November 2009 to October 2010.