10-YEAR SURVIVAL AFTER RESECTION FOR LUNG-CARCINOMA - EFFECT OF BLOOD-TRANSFUSION AND TUMOR STAGE ON OUTCOME

The objectives were to evaluate the prognosis; in resected lung cancer and to observe if perioperative blood transfusion adversely affects t he prognosis. Of 208 patients with resection for lung cancer in 1978-1 980, all but five were smokers: 127 had squamous cell and 81 non-squam ous cell carcinoma. Stage I disease was found in 143 patients (69%), s tage II in 18 (9%) and stage IIIa in 47 (23%). Five-year survival was 52% in stage I, 29% in stage II and 7% in stage IIIa tumour; the respe ctive 10-year rates were 37, 19 and 3%. Patients given perioperative b lood transfusion (n = 95) had poorer prognosis than the non-transfused patients. According to Cox multivariate analysis, however, the relati ve risk of death was only slightly increased by perioperative transfus ion (p = 0.07). In patients with stage II or IIIa carcinoma at diagnos is, this relative risk was 2.17 and 4.99 times higher than in stage I (p = 0.004 and p = 0.0001). Long-term survival thus was related to ext ent of the disease at diagnosis rather than to numbers of blood transf usions.