title: Preoperative predictors of the need for allogeneic blood transfusion in lung cancer surgery.
abstract: BACKGROUND
  The use of blood-saving techniques in elective surgery can produce a favorable cost-benefit ratio only when there is a reasonable likelihood that transfusion will be required. To apply a targeted blood-sparing technique in lung cancer surgery, the patient's preoperative characteristics that predict the use of allogeneic blood transfusion (ABT) in this practice were investigated.
  
  
  METHODS
  One hundred seventy-three consecutive patients who underwent primary lung cancer surgery were included in this retrospective study. Clinical and epidemiologic variables, lung tumor extension (TNM staging), and surgery type were analyzed by logistic regression to discover the preoperative predictors of ABT.
  
  
  RESULTS
  Thirty patients, 17.3 percent of all who underwent surgery and 19.9 percent of those who underwent resolvent surgery, received ABT. Excluding a patient who needed 18 units of RBCs, the number of ABT units required by transfused patients was 1. 93 +/- 0.88 (mean +/- SD). Extensive surgery, patient's age (< or =64 years), and elevated erythrocyte sedimentation rate (>45 mm/hour) were the preoperative variables that influenced the need for ABT. The definitive predictive model was able to recognize 82.3 percent of patients who received ABT and 95.6 percent of those who did not.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  A predictive model can preoperatively identify patients at risk for needing ABT in lung cancer surgery. The model could be utilized to tailor blood-sparing intervention programs.
authors.affiliation: Vergani and Brera Medical Divisions, the Division of Thoracic Surgery, and the Physical Health Service, Niguarda Ca' Granda Hospital, Milan, Italy. divisionevergani@tiscalinet.it
authors.forename: L
authors.initials: L
authors.lastname: Cirasino
authors.forename: G
authors.initials: G
authors.lastname: Barosi
authors.forename: M
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Torre
authors.forename: S
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Crespi
authors.forename: P
authors.initials: P
authors.lastname: Colombo
authors.forename: P A
authors.initials: PA
authors.lastname: Belloni
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D000368:Aged; D000369:Aged, 80 and over; D001803:Blood Transfusion; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D008175:Lung Neoplasms / Q000601:surgery*; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D011300:Preoperative Care; D012189:Retrospective Studies; D014184:Transplantation, Homologous