title: An association between preoperative anemia and poor prognostic factors and decreased survival in early stage cervical cancer patients.
abstract: OBJECTIVE
  To evaluate correlation of preoperative anemia with clinical outcomes in patients with early stage cervical cancer who were treated with radical hysterectomy and lymph node dissection.
  
  
  METHODS
  Patients who underwent radical hysterectomy and lymph node dissection for cervical cancer from January 2001 to February 2012 were included in this study. Clinicopatholgoical factors included in univariate and multivariate analysis were age, tumor histology, FIGO (International Federation of Gyneocology and Obstetrics) stage, preoperative hemoglobin, depth of invasion, tumor size, parametrial involvement, resection margin, and lymph node status.
  
  
  RESULTS
  A total of 387 patients were retrospectively analyzed in this study; 141 patients (36.4%) had preoperative anemia (hemoglobin <12 g/dL) and 16 out of 141 patients (11.3%) received blood transfusion for correction of preoperative anemia. Patients with preoperative anemia showed significant association with age <50 years, more advanced stage, non-squamous cell carcinoma histology, larger tumor size, deeper stromal invasion, and lymph node metastasis (P<0.05). Both relapse-free survival and overall survival were worse in patients with preoperative anemia in univariate analysis. In multivariate analysis, overall survival was worse in patients with preoperative anemia, but relapse-free survival was not associated with preoperative anemia. In the intergroup analysis of anemic patients for the effect of preoperative blood transfusion, preoperative anemia correction did not affect survival.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  Preoperative anemia was not an independent prognostic factor for survival in patients with early cervical cancer. However, it was associated with poor prognostic factors. Further study in large population is needed.
authors.affiliation: Department of Obstetrics and Gynecology, Gachon University Gil Medical Center, Incheon, Korea.
authors.forename: Soyi
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Lim
authors.affiliation: Department of Obstetrics and Gynecology, Gachon University Gil Medical Center, Incheon, Korea.
authors.forename: Chae-Min
authors.initials: CM
authors.lastname: Lee
authors.affiliation: Department of Obstetrics and Gynecology, Gachon University Gil Medical Center, Incheon, Korea.
authors.forename: Jong-Min
authors.initials: JM
authors.lastname: Park
authors.affiliation: Department of Obstetrics and Gynecology, Gachon University Gil Medical Center, Incheon, Korea.
authors.forename: Sun-Young
authors.initials: SY
authors.lastname: Jung
authors.affiliation: Department of Obstetrics and Gynecology, Gachon University Gil Medical Center, Incheon, Korea.
authors.forename: Kwang-Beom
authors.initials: KB
authors.lastname: Lee
keywords: Anemia; Hysterectomy; Uterine cervical neoplasms