Negative Impact of Intra-Operative Blood Transfusion on Survival Outcomes of Hepatocellular Carcinoma Patients

Background: Studies have reported that blood transfusion may have an association with survival outcomes of cancer patients. This study was aimed at finding the effect of intra-operative blood transfusion on the prognosis of patients of hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC). Methods: This was a retrospective study. HCC patients who underwent tumor resection from January 2013 to November 2018 at Harbin Medical University Cancer Hospital were included. The survival time of patients receiving or not receiving blood transfusion during the operation were compared. Results: Of HCC patients, 21.1% (102/484) received intra-operative blood transfusion. After propensity score matching, 87 pairs of patients were included in the study. In the subset of patients with a tumor size of >4 cm, univariable analysis found that there were significant differences in recurrence-free survival (RFS; P=0.004) and overall survival (OS; P=0.028) between blood transfusion and non-blood transfusion groups. After multivariable Cox regression analysis, intra-operative blood transfusion was an independent risk factor for RFS (HR: 2.011, 95% CI: 1.146–3.529, P=0.015), but not for OS (HR: 1.862, 95% CI: 0.933–3.715, P=0.078) in the subset of patients with a tumor size of >4 cm. Conclusion: Intra-operative blood transfusion was associated with worse RFS in HCC patients with a tumor size of >4 cm.