In addition to more restrictive "transfusion triggers", presently available allogeneic blood conservation strategies in surgery include preoperative increase in red blood cells (RBC) mass, techniques or pharmaceutical agents that reduce blood loss, and perioperative blood salvage.
In order to minimize the risks and adverse effects after transfusing homologous blood products, new strategies of autologous blood management (ABM) have been introduced in cardiac surgery (45:11 minutes).