Blood transfusion and survival in colorectal cancer.

Abstract

This study examined the effect of blood transfusion on the prognosis of patients undergoing surgery for colorectal cancer. Potentially curative resections for colorectal cancer were performed in 266 patients who were followed prospectively, with a minimum follow-up of 41 months. They were divided into transfused (n = 121) and nontransfused (n = 145) groups according to their perioperative blood transfusion requirements. There were significantly more rectal tumors (chi 2 = 9.5, df = 1, P = 0.002) and fixed tumors (chi 2 = 4.5, df = 1, P = 0.03) in the transfused group. There was no statistically significant difference between the two groups with regard to recurrence-free survival (chi 2 = 1.1, df = 1, P = 0.3) and overall survival (chi 2 = 2.8, df = 1, P = 0.09). In this study we have found no statistically significant effect of perioperative blood transfusion on the prognosis of colorectal cancer patients.