Perioperative blood transfusion does not increase the risk of colorectal cancer recurrence. Influence of blood transfusions on tumor recurrence and survival rate in colorectal carcinoma. Blood transfusion and recurrence of cancer of the colon and rectum. [Prognostic incidence of blood transfusion in 753 patients operated for colorectal adenocarcinoma]. [Local recurrence after low anterior resection of rectal cancer]. [Following curative resection of colorectal cancer, portal chemotherapy especially benefits non-transfused patients]. [Blood transfusion and survival of patients with neoplasms of the colon and rectum]. Adverse effects of perioperative blood transfusion in patients with colorectal cancer. Blood transfusion-modulated tumor recurrence: first results of a randomized study of autologous versus allogeneic blood transfusion in colorectal cancer surgery. Perioperative blood transfusion and recurrence and death after resection for cancer of the colon and rectum. [Perioperative blood transfusion and recurrence after surgery of colorectal cancer]. Perioperative blood transfusions reduce long-term survival following surgery for colorectal cancer. Increased recurrence rates in perioperatively transfused colorectal malignancy patients. Randomised controlled trial comparing transfusion of leucocyte-depleted or buffy-coat-depleted blood in surgery for colorectal cancer. Analysis of local recurrence of midrectal cancer after low anterior resection and stapled anastomosis. The association of perioperative blood transfusion with colorectal cancer recurrence. Effect of perioperative blood transfusion on recurrence of colorectal cancer. Association between transfusion with plasma and the recurrence of colorectal carcinoma. The effect of packed cells and whole blood transfusions on survival after curative resection for colorectal carcinoma. Effect of perioperative blood transfusions on survival of patients after radical surgery for colorectal cancer. The influence of blood transfusions upon the recurrence rate of colorectal cancer. An analysis on the effect of blood transfusion on recurrence and survival in patients undergoing extended lymphadenectomy for colorectal cancer. Relation between cancer of the colon and blood transfusion. Blood transfusion and recurrence of colorectal cancer. [Blood transfusion worsens the prognosis in colorectal cancer. Preliminary study in a series of 717 cases]. Perioperative blood transfusion increases the risk of recurrence in colorectal cancer. The relationship of blood transfusion, tumor staging, and cancer recurrence. Blood transfusion and survival in colorectal cancer. Effect of perioperative blood loss and perioperative blood transfusions on colorectal cancer survival. The association between perioperative blood transfusion and survival of patients with colorectal cancer. A relationship between perioperative blood transfusion and recurrence of carcinoma of the sigmoid colon following potentially curative surgery. Storage time of transfused blood and disease recurrence after colorectal cancer surgery. Blood transfusion and prognosis in colorectal carcinoma. Large bowel cancer: the effect of perioperative blood transfusion on outcome.
An adverse relationship between perioperative blood transfusions and the risk of subsequent recurrence of cancer was reported recently. We reviewed retrospectively the records of 171 patients who received initial therapy for colorectal adenocarcinoma from 1977 to 1979 at the Virginia Mason Medical Center. One hundred three patients (60%) received transfusions within 1 month of surgery and 37 patients (22%) developed recurrent cancer. No overall relationship between transfusion status (yes or no) and tumor recurrence or patient survival was found, although among subsets of patients (those with colon cancer or Dukes' Stage C2 disease), patients who had received transfusions were less likely to develop recurrent cancer than patients who had not (P = 0.01). No effect of transfusion on patient survival was found, even after consideration of potential confounding variables. The conflicting data regarding blood transfusion and cancer recurrence are reviewed, but it would appear to be premature to alter radically current blood transfusion practices based on the possibility that transfusion may adversely influence the risk of cancer recurrence. Determinants for homologous blood transfusion and its influence on postoperative and long-term results were evaluated in 439 curatively resected colorectal cancer patients. The rate of transfusion was significantly higher in rectal cancer, large tumors, advanced pT stage and extended resection but not in tumor stenosis, lower graded tumors, advanced Dukes stage or less experienced surgeons. Transfused patients showed significantly more postoperative complications, higher recurrence rates as well as less favorable long-term survival. Homologous blood transfusions are negatively correlated to survival rates. Clinical and experimental studies indicate that transfusion of allogeneic blood has immunomodulating properties, and that the behaviour of some tumours may be influenced by the immune system of the host. Eighty-seven patients who had undergone 'curative' resection of cancer of the colon or rectum were studied retrospectively to determine whether blood transfusion adversely affected the rate of cancer recurrence. Fifty-three patients (61 per cent) were transfused and 34 were not. The transfused and non-transfused groups were comparable in terms of age, sex, duration of follow-up, mode of presentation, stage of disease and haemoglobin level at discharge from hospital, and differed in admission haemoglobin and distribution of tumour locations (right- or left-sided colonic or rectal tumours). Recurrent malignancy was detected in 36 per cent of transfused patients and 26 per cent of non-transfused patients (P greater than 0.1). There was no association between the number of transfusions and recurrence for any tumour site or stage. The incidence of recurrence was significantly higher in those patients who received transfusions during surgery than in those who received transfusion either before or after surgery (chi 2 = 7.01, d.f. = 1, P less than 0.01) or no transfusions (chi 2 = 4.23, d.f. = 1, P less than 0.05). The study indicates that factors influencing the need for blood transfusion during operation had a greater bearing on prognosis than receipt of a blood transfusion per se and that future prospective studies investigating the association between transfusion and cancer recurrence need to determine accurately the indications for transfusion. Do transfusions have a deleterious effect on the survival after surgery for colorectal carcinoma (CRC)? Among 1,221 patients operated on for a CRC between 1969 and 1988, 753 patients having undergone a curative surgical procedure with a follow-up of at least six months were evaluated retrospectively. 134 patients (17.2%) did not receive any transfusion; the others 619 (82.80%) received transfusions including 150 with packed red blood cells only. Transfused and non transfused patients were compared. Among the classical indicators for disease free survival, the only valuable parameter was the pathological classification, but it was not discriminant between transfused and non transfused patients. Prognostic value of transfusions were evaluated with regard of the components and the quantity of transfused items, the time of transfusions (either per- or perioperative), the surgical procedures and the tumor location on colon and rectum. The 5 years survival of transfused patients was less than for non transfused patients (56.3% versus 61.7%, p > 0.05 NS), but only the transfusions of more than 5 packed red blood cells worsened significantly the prognostic. (5 years chi 2 = 5.7; p < 0.02). Adjustments with pathologic analysis and time evolutive indications for transfusions did not alter those results. These results point the fact that transfusions could influence survival after surgery for CRC and stress us to limit reasonably transfusions. Among 75 consecutive patients operated upon with anterior resection for rectal adenocarcinoma during a five year period, 29 (39%) developed local cancer recurrence. The total cumulative five-year survival was 49%, but only 17% in those with a local cancer recurrence. The most important risk factors for development of local recurrence were tumour fixation, intraoperative blood transfusion and surgical routine. Local recurrence was seen in 4/23 (17%) after operation performed by a consultant, 1/5 (20%) after a consultant-supervised operation and 24/47 (51%) after operation by a senior registrar (p < 0.02). As a consequence we recommend that operation for rectal cancer should only be performed or supervised by a few specialists in colorectal surgery. After curative resection of colorectal cancer, immediate short-term postoperative intraportal adjuvant chemotherapy reduces the relative risk of recurrence and death in the non-transfused patient significantly, when compared to transfused patients without chemotherapy. This is demonstrated in a multivariate analysis using the Cox model on a group of 469 patients who have been intraoperatively randomized to receive either intraportal chemotherapy for 7 days or no further treatment. The transfused patients with chemotherapy and those receiving neither transfusions nor chemotherapy had a relative risk of recurrence and death situated in between the two groups mentioned above, not statistically different from either of them. In the setting of this study, 7 days postoperative intraportal chemotherapy seems particularly effective in the non-transfused patients. The fate of 248 patients diagnosed of colorectal malignancies between 1973 and 1982 and subjected to radical surgery with curative purposes was analysed. The effect of peroperative whole blood and packed red cells transfusions, along with other co-variants, on the survival of the patients was studied. It was found, by means of the Cox analysis, that whole blood and the Duke's staging system had the most important correlation (p = 0.003 and p = 0.02, respectively) on the patients' prognosis and survival, no such relationship being found with packed red cells transfusion (p = 0.25). Dose-related association between the relapse index and the number of whole blood units transfused was shown by the Mantel's global trend test (p = 0.015). The different effect of the transfusion products would confirm the hypothesis that the relationship between transfusion and poorer prognosis, thought to be due to patient's immunosuppression and hence higher relapse index, could be determined by any ill-defined plasmatic factor. To assess the effects of perioperative blood transfusion on cancer related survival and infective complications after radical operations for colorectal cancer.
                Retrospective study.
                District hospital in Sweden.
                217 patients who fulfilled the criteria for inclusion, out of 392 consecutive patients operated on for colorectal cancer between 1975 and 1979.
                Morbidity and cancer related mortality depending on whether blood was transfused and, if so, how much.
                Dukes' stage (p < 0.001), rectal tumours (p < 0.05) and the number of units transfused (p < 0.05) were significantly associated with cancer related mortality. Patients with rectal cancer transfused with 1-2 units had significantly better survival than those transfused with more than 4 units (p < 0.05), but this was not the case for colonic tumours. There was no significant association between blood transfusion and the incidence of infective complications.
                Though there seems to be an association between the number of units of blood transfused and cancer related survival in patients with rectal cancer, this does not necessarily imply causation. We recommend that until this is clarified by large, prospective investigations, autologous blood should be used whenever possible, and unnecessary blood transfusion should be avoided. Allogeneic blood transfusions have reportedly been associated with a poor prognosis in patients with curatively resected cancer. To control for immunosuppression induced by a speculatively causal allogeneic blood transfusion, we designed a randomized study in which the control group received autologous blood transfusions not related to any condition of immunosuppression.
                One hundred twenty patients with potentially curative resectable colorectal cancer and the capability to predeposit autologous blood were randomly selected to receive either standard allogeneic blood transfusion or predeposited autologous blood.
                In curatively resected cancer patients, the number who needed allogeneic blood transfusions was reduced from 60% in the allogeneic blood group to 33% in the autologous blood group (P = .009). After a median follow-up duration of 22 months (range, 8 to 48) tumor recurrence was observed in 28.9% of the allogeneic blood group and 16.7% of the autologous blood group. Life-table analysis established a tendency toward a shorter tumor-free survival for the allogeneic blood group (log-rank P = .11). The problem with this analysis was the strong association of allogeneic blood transfusions with tumor recurrence, which interfered in 33% of patients in the autologous blood group who required additional allogeneic blood transfusions. Multivariate analysis of established risk factors for tumor recurrence and surgery-related variables reflecting potential immunosuppressive conditions showed that only pT stage (relative risk, 6.61; 95% confidence interval [CI], 1.82 to 23.99; P = .004), pN stage (relative risk, 8.39; 95% CI, 3.15 to 22.33; P < .001), and the need for allogeneic blood (relative risk, 6.18; 95% CI, 2.20 to 17.37; P < .001) were independent predictors of tumor recurrence. Subgroup analysis of patients who received a transfusion of < or = 2 U blood found a significantly higher risk of tumor recurrence in the allogeneic blood group (relative risk, 5.16; 95% CI, 1.13 to 23.62; P = .034), which was reduced to borderline significance (relative risk, 3.54; 95% CI, 0.76 to 16.51; P = .107) by adjustment for tumor (T) and node (N) stage.
                As indicated by these first results, the blood transfusion modality has a significant effect on tumor recurrence after surgical treatment of colorectal cancer. A change in the practice of blood transfusion might thus potentially surpass the impact of any recent adjuvant treatment strategies. Several reports have claimed that perioperative blood transfusion promotes recurrence and death after cancer surgery. We studied the effect of transfusion in 315 patients who had radical resection for carcinoma of the colon and rectum. The disease recurred in 113 (42%) of 268 transfused patients, versus in 15 (32%) in 47 non-transfused patients (P = 0.2). Of the transfused patients 102 (38%) died of colon cancer, versus 13 patients (28%) in the non-transfused group (P = 0.2). The 5-year recurrence-free survival rate was 0.59 in the transfused patients and 0.72 in the non-transfused group (P = 0.10). When differences in confounding background variables were accounted for by Cox multiple regression analysis, the significance of transfusion was even less. The study does not support the hypothesis that perioperative blood transfusion promotes recurrence after operation for colorectal cancer. nan The aim of the study contained herein was to investigate the association between blood transfusion and long-term outcome for patients treated for colorectal cancer, controlling for the effect of other prognostic factors. We also wanted to study whether blood storage time influenced the prognosis.
                Cox's proportional hazards regression analysis was used to analyze data from 336 patients who survived resection with curative intent. Median follow-up was 5.8 (2-16.8) years or until death.
                Local recurrences and distant metastases were significantly more frequent when more than two units of blood had been transfused. In the multivariate Cox's analysis, with backward elimination of nonsignificant factors at the 10 percent level, the following risk factors were significantly related to death by colorectal cancer: tumor stage (T stage and N stage), perforation of tumor, age, and the need for a blood transfusion. Transfusions of more than two units of blood were independently and significantly associated with death from colorectal cancer (relative hazard, 2.7; 95 percent confidence intervals, 1.4-5.2). Time of blood storage had no effect on the prognoses. In patients dying from diseases unrelated to colorectal cancer, age and American Society of Anesthesiologists group were significantly related to death, whereas blood transfusion was not.
                We found an independent and significant association between perioperative blood transfusion and poor prognosis in colorectal cancer patients. Blood storage time was not a prognostic factor. Blood transfusions have been shown to induce immunomodulative alterations in the transfusee such as changes in suppressor to helper T-cell ratio. They also have a beneficial antirejection effect in renal transplant recipients. To determine if blood transfusions play a role in tumor recurrence, the records of 177 transfused and 118 untransfused patients with Dukes stages B2, C1, or C2 operated on between June 1976 and July 1979 were examined. Ninety-five percent of untransfused patients were recurrence free at the end of 1 year compared to 86% of perioperatively transfused patients (P greater than .005), and this difference persisted for the 5 years of the study. Transfused patients in any of the pathological stages had lower recurrence-free rates in every postoperative year. Critical statistical analysis in this retrospective study indicates that the administration of blood is an important factor in the development of recurrence, and the increased incidence of recurrence is unrelated to the extent of operation or to the clinical need for transfusions before or during surgery. In retrospective studies, perioperative blood transfusions were associated with poor prognosis after surgery for cancer and were a major independent risk factor for postoperative bacterial infection. Leucocyte-depleted, in contrast to buffy-coat-depleted, blood has no immunosuppressive effects in transplantation and so might lack detrimental effects on cancer prognosis and postoperative infections. We studied this hypothesis in a controlled trial by randomly allocating patients to receive either leucocyte-depleted red cells or packed cells without buffy coat when blood was needed. Between 1987 and 1990, 871 eligible patients with colorectal cancer, including 697 patients operated upon with curative intent, were randomised in the 16 participating hospitals. Neither the eligible group nor the curative group showed significant differences between the two trial transfusions in survival, disease-free survival, cancer recurrence rates, or overall infection rates after an average follow-up of 36 months. Patients who had a curative resection and who received blood of any sort had a lower 3-year survival than non-transfused patients (69% vs 81%, p = 0.001) and a higher infection rate (39% vs 24%, p < 0.001). Colorectal cancer recurrence rates, however, were not influenced by blood transfusion (30% vs 26%, p = 0.22). These combined observations confirm the association between blood transfusion and poor patient survival but indicate that the relation is not due to promotion of cancer. We evaluated local recurrences of midrectal cancer in 33 patients treated with low anterior resection and stapled end-to-end anastomosis. All patients had follow-up for at least 2 years or until death. There were 21 men and 12 women. Data were analyzed with attention to Astler-Coller modified Dukes' stage, distal margin of resection, degree of histologic differentiation, location of the tumor, blood transfusion, and adjuvant therapy. Distal margin of resection, histologic differentiation, and location of the tumor had no prognostic significance regarding local recurrence. The use of adjuvant therapy remains controversial. The immunosuppressive effects of blood transfusion may affect local recurrence. Dukes' staging remains the standard for prognosis of recurrence in rectal cancer. The relationship between blood transfusion, disease-free survival, and other potential prognostic factors was prospectively studied in 339 consecutive patients with colorectal cancer. Admission and discharge hematocrit, Dukes' stage, and blood loss were significantly related to both blood transfusion and disease-free survival. Using Cox proportional hazards model, however, the association of transfusion with disease-free survival was significant (p = 0.0196) after controlling for age, sex, blood loss, procedure, tumor differentiation, stage, admission hematocrit, duration of surgery, length of the specimen, and tumor size. Dukes' stage (p < 0.0001) and blood transfusion (p < 0.0001) were the only variables independently related to disease-free survival. Forty per cent (44) of the 110 patients who received transfusions developed cancer recurrence, compared with 22% (50) of the 229 patients who did not receive blood (p < 0.0001). Five-year disease-free survival of the transfused patients was 57%, compared with 77% for nontransfused patients. Patients who developed recurrence received an average of twice as much blood as patients without recurrence (1.26 versus 0.61 units, p = 0.0128). Perioperative blood transfusion is a significant independent prognostic factor for colorectal cancer. The aim of the present study was to examine the outcome of 517 patients undergoing curative surgery for colonic and rectal cancer, and to compare the recurrence and mortality rates in transfused and non-transfused groups of patients. The two groups were evenly matched for age, sex, Dukes' stage and histological differentiation. There were significantly more rectal tumours in the transfused group (P less than 0.01), but the distribution of colonic lesions did not differ. Life table analysis revealed that the transfused patients had a 20 per cent greater probability of recurrence at 5 years (P less than 0.005) and there were 16 per cent more cancer related deaths (P less than 0.01). Even when all rectal cancers were excluded, a similar trend was seen for the colonic lesions: a 24 per cent greater probability of recurrence at 5 years (P less than 0.025) and 15 per cent more cancer related deaths (P less than 0.02). We conclude that blood transfusion may be associated with increased mortality and recurrence in patients undergoing curative surgery for colorectal cancer. Data was collected from patients with colonic or rectal tumours undergoing potentially curative surgery. Univariate analysis showed an association between perioperative transfusion with plasma and the earlier recurrence of tumour. Allowing for possible confounding factors the relative risk of recurrence for patients receiving plasma was 2.44 (95 per cent confidence interval = 1.10-5.46, P = 0.041) and for patients receiving whole blood or plasma, it was 2.39 (95 per cent confidence interval = 1.19-4.83, P = 0.021). The risk of recurrence for those receiving a transfusion of plasma was, therefore, more than twice that of those not given it. We were unable to demonstrate an independent harmful effect of transfusion with packed cells. These data suggest that the plasma protein, rather than the cellular component of whole blood, mediates the accelerated tumour recurrence. The effect of perioperative blood transfusions on survival after curative resection for colorectal carcinoma was studied retrospectively on 270 patients with special emphasis on whole blood transfusion. Eighty-six (32 percent) patients did not receive blood transfusions, whereas the remaining 110 (41 percent) received packed cells and 74 (27 percent) received at least 2 units of whole blood. The recurrence-free and overall 5-year survival rates for the transfused group were 58 and 57 percent, respectively, and for the non-transfused group, 78 and 72 percent, respectively. These differences were highly significant (log rank test, P less than 0.001). The recurrence-free and overall 5-year survival rates for patients who received only whole blood or a combination of whole blood and packed cells was 51 percent, and of those who received only packed cells was 63 percent. The difference was not statistically significant (log rank test, P = 0.08, P = 0.35). Administration of more than 6 units of blood is attended with a significantly worse 5-year disease-free survival rate than administration of a smaller volume. The survival was not decreased if 6 or more units of whole blood were given. The authors conclude that perioperative blood transfusions have a significant detrimental effect on survival after curative resection for colorectal carcinoma. This effect is not enhanced by whole blood transfusions. The effect of perioperative blood transfusion on the survival of patients with colorectal cancer was evaluated in 128 patients undergoing curative surgery between 1980 and 1988. The following clinical and histopathological variables were also studied: age, sex, duration of symptoms, presence of intestinal obstruction, tumour site, extent of spread through the bowel wall, lymph node involvement, Dukes' stage, grade of differentiation, venous invasion and type of surgical procedure performed. The need for perioperative blood transfusion was unrelated to the stage of disease. In the transfused patients (n = 73) the 5-year recurrence-free survival, calculated by the Kaplan-Meyer technique, was 37% and in the non-transfused (n = 55) was 60% (P = 0.0027, Mantel-Cox). Similar differences were found in the comparison of the groups with (n = 68) and without (n = 60) transfusions on the day of operation. The deleterious effect of transfusion was evident in patients who received only one unit of blood (n = 19)--these had a 5-year survival rate of 45% compared those who had more than one unit of blood (n = 54) (5-year survival rate 35%) (P = 0.0062). With a multivariate analysis, using a Cox proportional hazard model, taking into account all the variables studied, a significant and independent effect on survival was found for lymph node involvement (beta coefficient = 3.97), blood transfusion (beta coefficient = 2.16) and extent of bowel wall spread (beta coefficient = 1.75).(ABSTRACT TRUNCATED AT 250 WORDS) A retrospective study of 325 consecutive patients suffering colorectal adenocarcinoma, allowed in 141, the determination of the influence of blood transfusion upon the risk of recurrence/metastases over a minimum observation period of 6 months. Of 29 patients not receiving blood transfusion, 6 were subjected to recurrence/metastases. Of 112 patients receiving blood transfusion, 45 suffered recurrence/metastases. No significant difference in the risk of developing recurrence/metastases was seen when the primary tumor was Dukes' class A and C. When the primary tumor was Dukes' class B, a significantly higher risk of recurrence/metastases was seen in the group receiving blood transfusion. A constrained use of blood transfusion in connection with colorectal surgery is recommended until definitive immunological studies determined the influence of blood transfusion upon the risk of recurrence/metastases. In a retrospective study data were collected from 644 patients with cancer of the colon or rectum undergoing curative surgery with extended lymphadenectomy to evaluate a possible effect of blood transfusion, given perioperatively, on tumor recurrence and patient survival. Univariate analysis showed depth of bowel wall invasion, number and level of lymph node metastases to be of highly significant prognostic factors. After 5 years the overall recurrence rate was 16.6% for the non-transfused (n = 223) and 26.1% for the transfused (n = 421; p < .01) patients, and survival rates showed borderline significance favoring the non-transfused patients (90.5% vs. 80.0% after 5 years; p < 0.05). However, after stratification for the prognostically important factors, in a multivariate analysis a possible detrimental effect of perioperative blood transfusions could not be demonstrated. nan Because perioperative blood transfusions have been shown to have an impaired effect on survival in patients with colorectal cancer, we examined retrospectively the records of 882 patients who had undergone curative operations: 170 patients had distant metastases at the time of operation. Of the 499 patients with colonic cancer 332 (67%) had received perioperative blood transfusions. The corresponding figure for the 213 patients with rectal cancer was 190 (89%). Colonic tumors recurred in 45% of the patients who received blood transfusions and in 39% of those who did not. Corresponding figures for tumors in the rectum were 54% and 55%. When dividing the patients with colonic cancer into different subgroups according to Dukes' grade we found differences in survival rates. The poorer survival for transfused patients was, however, only significant for those with Dukes' A tumors (p less than 0.05). This difference disappeared when the influence of age was eliminated. The estimated risk ratio of recurrence and death was 1.23 with the 95% confidence interval (0.99, 1.53) when taking Dukes' grade, current age and localization into account. Blood transfusion should be avoided if possible until adequate prospective studies have been carried out. We have conducted an investigation on the relationship between blood transfusion and recurrence of resected colorectal cancer and survival of the patients. During the past ten years 717 patients have been surgically treated of colorectal cancer in our hospital; 442 of the cases were Duke's stages B or C, and the resection had been considered radical. In both groups, recurrences were most frequent in patients who received blood transfusions; survival was also lower in this group of patients. A retrospective study was conducted on 519 patients undergoing curative resection for colorectal carcinoma between 1969 and 1980. Recurrence was diagnosed in 214 patients (41.2 percent), 179 of whom (34.5 percent) had received blood transfusions and 35 of whom (6.7 percent) had not (P less than .001). Exclusion of the right-sided colonic tumors still showed that recurrence was more common in transfused than nontransfused patients (135 [47.2 percent] vs. 25 [22.5 percent]; P less than .001). Recurrence in patients transfused only during surgery (N = 201) was higher than in nontransfused patients (P less than .001) and, similarly, all patients transfused during surgery (N = 297) had an increased risk (P less than .001). Among patients with rectal cancer, transfusion increased the risk of recurrence in those treated by abdominoperineal resection (P less than .02), but this was not the case in those treated by sphincter-saving resection (P = .2). Hierarchical log linear analysis of all dependent factors (Dukes' stage, histologic grade, age, sex, site, elective, or emergency procedure) showed that Dukes' stage and blood transfusion had the most significant effects on the development of recurrence (chi 2 = 54.04, df = 6, P less than .0001 and chi 2 = 13.93, df = 3, P less than .003). The risk of recurrence following curative surgery for colorectal cancer is markedly increased by blood transfusion on the day of operation. Previous research demonstrated a relationship between transfusions of whole blood, or large numbers of red cell concentrates, and later recurrence of cancers of the colon, rectum, cervix, and prostate. It is possible that the transfusion of whole blood may represent a surrogate marker for advanced or more aggressive clinical disease. The relationship of clinical or histologic tumor stage, blood transfusion status, and disease outcome was studied in detail. Patients receiving no transfusions or small numbers of red cells (less than or equal to 3 units) had uniformly better recurrence and survival experiences than patients receiving similar amounts of blood that included at least 1 unit of whole blood, regardless of the patient's clinical or histologic tumor stage. In multivariate analyses, stage was an independent predictor of outcome, and transfusion status was not a surrogate marker for stage. The effects on recurrence of stage and transfusion appear to be cumulative. These results are consistent with but do not prove the hypothesis that the transfusion of large amounts of stored plasma and cellular debris impairs the host defenses against cancer, regardless of the underlying biologic and clinical aggressiveness of the cancer. 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. Results of various studies suggest that the perioperative administration of blood transfusions in cancer patients operated upon for cure is associated with a diminished patient survival. Furthermore, recent results from our laboratory indicate that blood loss may also be capable of promoting tumor growth. In order to elucidate these findings a retrospective study was initiated towards the survival of 164 patients with colorectal carcinoma, operated upon for cure, at the University Hospital, Rotterdam. In 117 patients who perioperatively received blood transfusions the 5-year survival was 68%, as compared to 80% in the non-transfusion group (P = 0.039; Wilcoxon). The 5-year survival in the group of patients with a perioperative blood loss exceeding 500 ml (n = 88) was 70%, as compared to 73% in the group with a blood loss of 500 ml or less (not significant). Multivariate analysis, adjusting for 11 relevant parameters, showed that only tumor stage and the administration of blood transfusions were significantly associated with a decrease in survival. It is concluded that perioperative blood transfusions adversely affect colorectal carcinoma survival in this group of patients. Perioperative blood loss was not a significant prognostic factor. The authors undertook this study to test the hypothesis that perioperative blood transfusion has an adverse effect on survival of patients with colorectal cancer.
                A retrospective analysis was performed on 725 patients who underwent curative resection for Dukes Stage B and C colorectal cancers in our institution between 1981-1985 and who were followed for 5-11 years.
                Rectal cancers occurred more frequently in the transfused than in the nontransfused patients (64% versus 47%; P = 0.0001). In the patients with colon cancer, no significant effect of transfusion on recurrence-free survival was seen (P = 0.8, log-rank; P = 0.49, Cox regression analysis). The cumulative 5-year survival rate was 77% (95% confidence interval, 69-85%) for the nontransfused and 78% (72-83%) for the transfused patients. In patients with rectal cancer, the 5-year survival rate was 79% (67-87%) for the nontransfused and 67% (59-71%) for the transfused patients. A significant association was noted in patients with Stage B cancer (P = 0.002, log-rank; P = 0.02, Cox regression analysis), but not in those with Stage C cancer (P = 0.05, log-rank; P = 0.15, Cox regression analysis). In patients with Stage B rectal cancer, more frequent abdominoperineal resections (APR) were performed among the transfused patients (65% versus 32%; P = 0.0001). This subgroup was further stratified by operative procedure and reanalyzed using the same Cox regression model. Transfusion had no effect on survival of patients treated by APR (P = 0.31) or of those having a sphincter-saving procedure (P = 0.53).
                The seemingly adverse effect of perioperative blood transfusion on the survival of patients with colorectal cancer may be explained by other covariates. Preoperative blood transfusions are used to improve graft survival in renal transplantation. If such an immunomodulating effect occurred in cancer surgery perioperative blood transfusion may be detrimental to patient outcome. A retrospective study of 68 patients undergoing potentially curative surgery for adenocarcinoma of the sigmoid colon, over a 10 year period was performed. Thirty-three patients (49%) had a perioperative blood transfusion of which two-thirds received either one or two units. Transfused patients had a poorer prognosis compared to non-transfused patients (0.28 and 0.53 five year product limit recurrence free fractions respectively; P less than 0.01 on generalised Savege test of entire recurrence free curves). Perioperative transfusion was the most sensitive prognostic indicator of recurrence on Cox proportional hazards regression analysis (relative risk 2.6; P less than 0.01, after adjustment for histological stage). Although a causal relationship is not proven, prospective work is urgently needed. Perioperative blood transfusion and subsequent development of postoperative infectious complications may lead to poor prognosis of patients with colorectal cancer. It has been suggested that the development of postoperative infectious complications may be related to the storage time of the transfused blood. Therefore, we studied the relationship between blood storage time and the development of disease recurrence and long-term survival after colorectal cancer surgery.
                Preoperative and postoperative data were prospectively recorded in 740 patients undergoing elective resection for primary colorectal cancer. None of the patients received preoperative or postoperative chemotherapy or radiation therapy. Endpoints were overall survival and disease recurrence in the subgroup of patients operated on with curative intention who also survived the first 30 days after operation. Storage of buffy-coat-depleted red cells suspended in saline, adenine, glucose, and mannitol blood for 21 days was used as cut-off point.
                Median follow-up was 6.8 years (range, 5.4 years to 7.9 years), and median overall survival was 4.6 years for 288 nontransfused patients and 3.0 years for 452 transfused patients (P = 0.004). The survival of patients receiving blood exclusively stored < 21 days was 2.5 years. For patients receiving any blood stored > or = 21 days, survival was 3.7 years (P = 0.12). Among patients with curative resection (n = 532), the hazard ratio of disease recurrence was 1.5 (95 percent CI; 1.1 to 2.2) and 1.0 (95 percent CI; 0.7 to 1.4) in the two transfused groups, respectively, compared with the nontransfused group after multivariable correction for patient age, gender, colonic/rectal tumor localization, Dukes classification, blood loss, and postoperative infectious complications.
                Transfusion of buffy-coat-depleted red cells suspended in saline, adenine, glucose, and mannitol blood stored for < 21 days may be an independent risk factor for development of recurrence after elective colorectal cancer surgery. The association of perioperative blood transfusion and cancer recurrence was analyzed in a 10-year series of 520 patients with colorectal carcinoma undergoing curative surgery. Cancer recurrence was observed in 35 of 165 (19%) non-transfused and in 119 of 355 (34%) transfused patients (p less than 0.001). A significant difference in favor of the non-transfused group was also evident in cases of colonic (p less than 0.05) and rectal (p less than 0.01) tumors separately. The transfused group had both more recurrences and higher mortality. Although there were no differences in age, sex, and Dukes's stage between the two groups, further analysis showed other significant variables explaining the different result. First, there were significantly more patients with rectal cancer in the transfused group. In addition, emergency operations for obstruction and resections of adjacent organs for tumor invasion were significantly commoner in transfused patients. Exclusion of such patients and those with small tumors excised locally per anum resulted in the disappearance of the prognostic difference between the transfused and non-transfused groups (marginally significant difference in rectal carcinoma; p = 0.05). It is concluded that the seemingly adverse effect of blood transfusion on the prognosis of colorectal carcinoma may largely be explained by other associated variables. Perioperative blood transfusion has been reported to adversely affect survival in cancer patients, but the evidence is inconclusive and may be an epiphenomenon. From the Large Bowel Cancer Project, 961 patients who underwent curative resection and left hospital alive have been reviewed to compare the effect of perioperative blood transfusion on outcome; 591 patients (61%) had been given a blood transfusion while 370 (39%) had not been transfused. Some clinical variables were equally distributed between the two groups; ie age, sex, obstruction, perforation, tumour differentiation. Three other variables known to influence patient prognosis were not equally distributed, ie tumour site, Dukes' stage and tumour mobility. Patients with tumours of the rectum and rectosigmoid, with Dukes' stage C lesions and with some degree of tumour fixation were more likely to have received blood transfusions. Using the logrank method of multivariate analysis to allow for differences in distribution of all those variables known to affect prognosis, there was no survival disadvantage for those patients who had received perioperative blood transfusion. Furthermore, there were no overall differences between the two groups of patients in their risk of developing local tumour recurrence or distant metastases. The distribution of metastases differed: in the 'transfused' group only 37% of distant metastases were found in the liver, while 71% were found in this site in the 'not transfused' group (chi 2 = 18.46, d.f. = 1, P less than 0.001). By contrast, there was a larger proportion of patients with lung metastases in the transfused group (27% vs 11%) (chi 2 = 5.59, d.f. = 1, P less than 0.05). Therefore, these data do not support the concept of an overall deleterious effect of blood transfusion on patient survival, but suggest that blood given in the perioperative period may change the biology of the metastatic process.
This updated meta-analysis confirms the previous findings and supports the association of PBT on the recurrence of curable colorectal cancers. However, since heterogeneity was detected and the effect of surgical technique could not be assessed, a causal relationship cannot still be claimed. Carefully restricted indications for PBT seems necessary.