The association between preoperative concentration of soluble vascular endothelial growth factor, perioperative blood transfusion, and survival in patients with primary colorectal cancer

Objective: To investigate a possible association between the preoperative c oncentration of soluble vascular endothelial growth factor (sVEGF), periope rative blood transfusion, and survival in patients operated on for colorect al cancer. Design: Retrospective study. Setting: University hospital, Denmark. Subjects: 614 patients operated on for primary colorectal cancer. Main outcome measures: Association between preoperative blood transfusion a nd preoperative concentration of sVEGF. Association between perioperative b lood transfusion and survival. Results: Blood transfused up to one month before preoperative serum samples were obtained was significantly (p = 0.02) associated with high preoperati ve concentrations of sVEGF. The frequency of perioperative blood transfusio n was significantly (p = 0.0007) higher in patients with rectal cancer than in patients with colon cancer. A multivariate analysis showed that intraop erative or postoperative blood transfusion or both, were significantly (p = 0.03) associated with poor survival in patients with Dukes stage A, B and C rectal cancers, while this association was not found in patients with col on cancer. Conclusions: Preoperative blood transfusion may be associated with high pre operative concentrations of sVEGF in patients with colorectal cancer. Trans fusion during or after the operation is associated with poor survival in pa tients with Dukes stage A, B, and C rectal cancers.