IMPACT OF A PROGRAM OF AUTOLOGOUS BLOOD DONATION ON THE INCIDENCE OF INFECTION IN PATIENTS WITH COLORECTAL-CANCER

Objective: To assess the effects of both autologous and homologous blo od transfusion on the incidence of infective complications after elect ive operations for colorectal cancer. Design: Prospective open study. Setting: University hospital, Italy. Interventions: Recording of varia bles known to influence the development of infection. Main outcome mea sures: Infective morbidity and mortality. Results: Fifty-three patient s (33%) deposited their own blood. Eighty-six of the 161 (53%) patient s were transfused, 36 were given autologous blood, 48 homologous blood and 2 both autologous and homologous blood. These two were excluded f rom the analysis. Infective complications developed in 28 patients (17 %), of which 7/75 (9%) were in patients who had not been transfused, 5 /56 (14%) in patients given autologous transfusion, and 16/48 (33%) in patients given homologous transfusions (p <0.001). Multivariate analy sis identified homologous blood transfusion as the only variable signi ficantly associated with the development of postoperative infective co mplications. No patient died. Conclusion: Transfusion of autologous bl ood was associated with significantly fewer postoperative infective co mplications than transfusion of homologous blood or no blood transfusi on.