Blood transfusion history in colorectal cancer patients and cancer-free controls

Pretransplantation blood transfusions associated with immunosuppression and prolonged allograft survival may contribute to the high incidence of subsequent malignancy in transplant recipients. The relationship of blood transfusion to malignancy was investigated in 354 patients with colorectal cancer, matched by age and sex to control subjects with hernia (105 patients) or gallbladder (249 patients) disease. The incidence of prior blood transfusion was significantly lower in the cancer patients than in the control group (9 versus 17%, chi-square = 9.98, p less than 0.01). Control subjects differed from cancer patients by having more prior transfusions for major joint, cardiac, and urologic procedures. The mean intervals between transfusion and operation were 11.7 years for the cancer patients, 9.7 years for the gallbladder patients, and 7.4 years for the hernia patients. A comparison of cancer patients with and without prior blood transfusion revealed no differences in age, sex, stage of disease, tumor location, or tumor differentiation. Cancer has recurred in 33 percent of patients with previous transfusion and in 18 percent of those without previous transfusion (p = 0.2). This study does not support an association between prior blood transfusion and the development of colorectal cancer.