Effect of blood transfusion in patients with gynecologic malignancy

To determine the effect of blood transfusion on long-term outcome (disease-free interval, recurrence of disease after treatment, and survival) in women with invasive gynecologic malignancy.

In this retrospective study, 125 patients with gynecologic malignancy were assessed over a 36-month period. The variable of whether patients received blood transfusion during therapy was used to divide the sample into two groups.

There were no differences in the age, ethnicity, and site-stage of tumor of the two groups. Treatments (surgery, radiotherapy, chemotherapy, or multimodal) were similar between the two groups, as were initial hematocrits. The disease-free interval was significantly better in women who did not receive homologous blood (P < 0.001). Life table analysis illustrated that more patients were alive and free of disease if they did not receive blood (P < 0.001). Likewise, persistence-recurrence of cancer was more common in the transfusion group (P < 0.001). Finally, overall survival time was adversely affected by transfusion (P = 0.045).

The use of blood products in patients with invasive gynecologic cancer is associated with enhanced recurrence or persistence of malignancy, a decrease in the disease-free interval, and reduction in the probability of survival without evidence of disease.