Perioperative blood transfusions and prostate cancer recurrence and survival

This retrospective clinical study of patients with nonmetastatic prostate cancer demonstrates that patients transfused at the time of initial diagnosis or operation have a higher frequency of recurrence (54 percent) and death due to cancer (19 percent) than patients not receiving blood transfusions (recurrence rate 31 percent, p = 0.005; death rate 10 percent, p = 0.08). This difference is not explained by the transfused patients being older, having a less favorable clinical stage of disease, or less differentiated tumor histology. A multivariate analysis confirmed that the additional risk of dying from prostate cancer was 2.82-fold higher in transfused patients than in those not transfused. As in previous studies, the risk of recurrence may be greater in those receiving whole blood transfusions. Prospective studies of the association between perioperative blood transfusion and cancer recurrence are needed. For the present, prudent clinical practice should include avoidance of whole blood, fresh frozen plasma, and platelet transfusions and greater reliance on autologous blood transfusions.