Blood transfusions in breast cancer patients undergoing mastectomy: possible importance of timing

The influence of blood transfusions on survival of breast cancer is still not convincingly determined. To assess prognostic significance of blood transfusions, a group of 863 breast cancer patients (mean follow-up 68.3 months) treated with mastectomy during 1977-1995 in Oncologic Hospital, Bielsko-Biala, Poland, was analyzed.

Retrospective analyses were performed using log-rank tests and Cox proportional hazards models.

In univariate analysis, administering blood transfusions to breast cancer patients after mastectomy significantly shortened their overall, local recurrence-free and metastases-free survival (95% confidence intervals for differences in 5 year survival ranged from 6.5-27%). Multivariate analyses showed that only time of transfusion with reference to the time of mastectomy was an independent prognostic factor for metastases-free survival.

Allogenic blood transfusions in the first 8 days after mastectomy may shorten metastases-free survival of breast cancer patients.