Impact of peri-operative blood transfusion on the outcomes of patients undergoing radical cystectomy for urothelial carcinoma of the bladder.
OBJECTIVE
To determine the association between peri-operative blood transfusion (PBT) and oncological outcomes in a large multi-institutional cohort of patients undergoing radical cystectomy (RC) for urothelial carcinoma of the bladder (UCB).


METHODS
We conducted a retrospective analysis of 2895 patients treated with RC for UCB. Univariable and multivariable Cox regression models were used to analyse the effect of PBT administration on disease recurrence, cancer-specific mortality, and any-cause mortality.


RESULTS
Patients' median (interquartile range [IQR]) age was 67 (60, 73) years and the median (IQR) follow-up was 36.1 (15, 84) months. Patients who received PBT were more likely to have advanced disease (P < 0.001), high grade tumours (P = 0.047) and nodal metastasis (P = 0.004). PBT was associated with a higher risk of disease recurrence (P = 0.003), cancer-specific mortality (P = 0.017), and any-cause mortality (P = 0.010) in univariable, but not multivariable, analyses (P > 0.05). In multivariable analyses, pathological tumour stage, pathological nodal stage, soft tissue surgical margin, lymphovascular invasion and administration of adjuvant chemotherapy were independent predictors of disease recurrence, cancer-specific mortality and any-cause mortality (all P values <0.002).


CONCLUSIONS
Patients with UCB who underwent RC and received PBT had a greater risk of disease recurrence, cancer-specific mortality and any-cause mortality in univariable, but not multivariable, analysis. Although the greater need for PBT with more advanced disease is probably caused by a number of factors, including surgical and cancer-related factors, the present analysis showed that the disease characteristics rather than need for PBT led to worse outcomes.
Department of Urology, Weill Cornell Medical College, New York Presbyterian Hospital, New York, NY, USA; Department of Urology, University Medical Centre Hamburg-Eppendorf, Hamburg, Germany.
Luis A
LA
Kluth
Evanguelos
E
Xylinas
Malte
M
Rieken
Maya
M
El Ghouayel
Maxine
M
Sun
Pierre I
PI
Karakiewicz
Yair
Y
Lotan
Felix K-H
FK
Chun
Stephen A
SA
Boorjian
Richard K
RK
Lee
Alberto
A
Briganti
Morgan
M
Rouprêt
Margit
M
Fisch
Douglas S
DS
Scherr
Shahrokh F
SF
Shariat
D000368:Aged; D001804:Blood Transfusion, Autologous / Q000379:methods* / Q000401:mortality; D015653:Cystectomy / Q000379:methods* / Q000401:mortality; D004812:Epidemiologic Methods; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D053208:Kaplan-Meier Estimate; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D060787:Neoplasm Grading / Q000401:mortality; D009364:Neoplasm Recurrence, Local / Q000209:etiology / Q000401:mortality; D019990:Perioperative Care / Q000379:methods / Q000401:mortality; D012189:Retrospective Studies; D016896:Treatment Outcome; D001749:Urinary Bladder Neoplasms / Q000401:mortality / Q000473:pathology / Q000601:surgery*
bladder carcinoma; blood transfusion; outcomes; prognosis; radical cystectomy; urothelial carcinoma