Objectives: 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.
Methods: 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.
Results: 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).
Conclusions: 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.