Abstract
The purpose of this study was to investigate whether perioperative allogeneic blood transfusions are associated with an increased risk of cancer recurrence, postoperative infection and death of patients with cancer undergoing surgery. The records of 269 consecutive patients who had undergone curative operations for primary colonic cancer (Dukes' stage B and C) were reviewed. Ninety-four patients received perioperative allogeneic blood transfusion, and the other 175 did not. The 5-year overall survival rate of transfusion patients was 71.9%, compared with 89.8% for nontransfusion patients. There was a significant difference (p=0.0015). In multivariate Cox's analysis, perioperative allogeneic transfusion was independently and significantly associated with overall survival (hazard ratio=2.823). There was a significant difference in the postoperative infection rate between the transfusion and nontransfusion groups (29.8% vs 15.4%). The 5-year relapse-free survival rate for patients who had no lymph node metastasis was shorter in the transfusion group (88.5%) than nontransfusion group (96.6%), but this difference was not significant (p=0.0831). Onodera's prognostic nutritional index was elevated slower postoperatively in the transfusion than nontransfusion patients. It was suggested that perioperative allogeneic transfusions could be associated with poor prognosis, cancer recurrence and postoperative infection enhancement by immunosuppression.
