Autotransfusions

Part of speech: noun

Definitions

1. The process of reintroducing one's own blood back into the system after it has been collected
2. A medical procedure involving the transfer of a patient's previously drawn blood for reinfusion
3. A technique used to avoid blood transfusion from donors by utilizing the recipient's own blood

Etymology: "Autotransfusions" is the plural of "autotransfusion," a term built from the Greek prefix "auto-," meaning "self," joined to "transfusion," the older medical word for moving liquid, originally blood, from one body into another. The result is a self-transfusion: a patient's own blood, drawn off and later returned to the same body. The plural form simply counts separate procedures, so "autotransfusions" refers to repeated occasions when someone has had their own blood reinfused. Because the parts are transparent, the word needs little decoding; it is a transparent medical compound in which "auto-" does the work of distinguishing self-donated blood from blood given by another person.