Long-Term Complications After Intraoperative Blood Transfusions in Patients Who Underwent Curative-Intent Cancer Surgery

Objective: Patients with cancer undergoing curative-intent cancer surgery may require intraoperative blood transfusions. However, blood transfusions are not benign and can alone lead to increased risk of complications, infections, and mortality. This research was conducted to help understand this intervention's long-term complications (at 1 year postoperatively) to help improve approaches to managing these patients' complications. Materials and Methods: This was a prospective cohort study. Data for analysis were collected from the cases of all patients who received blood transfusions during curative cancer surgery at the H. Lee Moffitt Cancer Center and Research Institute, Tampa, FL, from December 1, 2021, to December 31, 2021. Results: In this timeframe, 604 patients had curative-intent cancer surgery, and 32 of them had intraoperative blood transfusions. Of the 32, 19 survived 1 year postoperatively while 13 died within 1 year postoperatively. Patients who died within that 1 year had significantly higher rates of vascular complications (p < 0.006). Additionally, 18/32 (54.54%) received more than 1 unit of blood. At that 1-year mark, there was no notable disparity observed between the 2 groups (1 unit versus multiple units of transfused blood) with regard to postoperative complications, mortality rates, or durations of hospital stay. Conclusions: Patients who did not survive 1 year postoperatively had many more vascular complications (e.g., pulmonary embolism and deep-vein thrombosis), compared to patients who survived to the same postoperative time point. To gain a deeper insight into this phenomenon, future studies with larger sample sizes are necessary. (J GYNECOL SURG 20XX:000)