Peri‐operative Blood Transfusion in Relation to Tumour Recurrence and Death after Surgery for Prostatic Cancer

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Abstract
Summary—Several reports have suggested that peri‐operative blood transfusion promotes tumour recurrence and death after surgery for cancer. We have studied the effect of transfusion in 156 patients operated on for prostatic cancer. A retrospective review was made of the clinical, histopathological and transfusion data in their hospital records. Sixty patients received blood transfusions and 96 did not. The 5‐year prostatic cancer specific survival rate was 0.56 in the transfused patients and 0.69 in the non‐transfused group. The transfused patients had a higher prevalence of risk factors than did the non‐transfused. When the differences in risk factors were accounted for by Cox regression analysis, peri‐operative blood transfusion reduced the prostatic cancer death intensity by 36%. The study does not support the hypothesis that blood transfusion promotes recurrence following surgery for prostatic cancer.