Perioperative blood transfusion in patients with colon carcinoma.

The effect of perioperative blood transfusion on 5- and 10-year survival following curative resection for intra-abdominal colon carcinoma was investigated retrospectively. Two hundred and seven patients with Dukes' stages A, B, and C carcinoma were divided into two groups: those who received perioperative blood transfusion and those who did not. The data indicated that survival was not altered by blood transfusion during primary surgical tumor resection. Location of tumor in intra-abdominal colon, size of tumor, units of blood received, and stage of disease also were considered in our analysis but did not change this conclusion.