Association of perioperative blood transfusion with oncologic outcomes after radical nephroureterectomy for upper tract urothelial carcinoma

BackgroundTo test the hypothesis that perioperative blood transfusion (PBT)impacts oncologic outcomes of patients treated with radical nephroureterectomy (RNU) for upper tract urothelial carcinoma (UTUC).MethodsRetrospective analysis of 2492 patients with UTUC treated at 23 institutions with RNU between 1987 and 2007.Cox regression models addressed the association of PBT with disease recurrence, cancer-specific mortality and any-cause mortality.ResultsA total of 510 patients (20.5%) patients received PBT. Within a median follow-up of 36 months (Interquartile range: 55 months), 663 (26.6%) patients experienced disease recurrence, 545 patients (21.9%) died of UTUC and 884 (35.5%) patients died from any cause. Patients who received PBT were at significantly higher risk of disease recurrence, cancer-specific mortality and overall mortality than patients not receiving PBT in univariable Cox regression analyses. In multivariable Cox regression analyses that adjusted for the effects of standard clinicopathologic features, PBT did not remain associated with disease recurrence (HR: 1.11; 95% CI 0.92–1.33, p = 0.25), cancer-specific mortality (HR: 1.09; 95% CI 0.89–1.33, p = 0.41) or overall mortality (HR: 1.09; 95% CI 0.93–1.28, p = 0.29).ConclusionsIn patients undergoing RNU for UTUC, PBT is associated with disease recurrence, cancer-specific survival or overall survival in univariable, but not in multivariable Cox regression analyses.