The authors tested the hypothesis that the amount of blood loss during surgery for colon cancer affected long term survival. All patients undergoing surgery for colon cancer between 1997 and 203 in the health care region of Uppsala/ Örebro were prospectively registered at the regional oncology centre and data on patients who underwent surgery for stage I –III disease were analysed. Patients who died within 6 months were excluded. Hazard rations were calculated with uni and multivariate cox proportional hazard regression and due to co-variation blood loss, blood transfusion and complications were tested in separate analyses. Blood loss >250ml, male gender, complication, >75 years and stage III disease were risk factors doer mortality in both multi and univariate analysis. Peri-operative blood transfusion was shown to be a risk factor in univariate analysis only. The results support the hypothesis that degree of blood loss during surgery for colon cancer is a factor that influences long-term survival.
Annals of Surgery 2012;255:1126–1128
Headline: Degree of blood loss during colon cancer surgery influences long-term survival
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