Do Red Blood Cell Transfusions Influence Long-Term Outcomes in Patients Undergoing Primary Surgery for Oral Squamous Cell Carcinoma?

Purpose: There is no consensus on the impact of red blood cell (RBC) transfusion on patients with oral squamous cell carcinoma (OSCC). The purpose of this study was to investigate the association between RBC transfusions and overall survival (OS) and tumor-free survival (TFS) after operative treatment of OSCC.

Methods: In this retrospective cohort study, all patients treated with primary surgery between 2003 and 2017 because of OSCC were chart reviewed. The occurrence and amount of RBC transfusions (0; 1-3; >3 units) was correlated with OS and TFS by Kaplan-Meier survival and Cox regression analyses. Demographic, clinical, and pathological parameters were also evaluated in order to identify confounding factors.

Results: Of 420 patients (243 [57.9%] male) with a mean age of 62.6 years, 67 (16.0%) received RBC transfusion. There were statistically significant (P < .01) differences in 5-year OS respectively TFS in transfused patients for the Kaplan-Meier survival analysis (0 units = 70.6%; [95% confidence interval {CI}: 65.0-75.4%] respectively 63.2% [95% CI: 57.4-68.4%], 1-3 units = 47.2% [95% CI: 29.4-63.1%] respectively 40.6% [95% CI: 24.6-55.95%] and >3 units = 48.9% [95% CI: 20.9-72.1%] respectively 30.5% [95% CI: 8.9-55.8%]). After multivariate adjustments for demographic, clinical, and pathological parameters, RBC transfusion could not be sustained as a significant prognostic factor in OS respectively TFS (1-3 units: hazard ratio = 1.5 [95% CI: 0.7-3.2] respectively 1.3 [95% CI: 0.7-2.6]; >3 units: hazard ratio = 1.2 [95% CI: 0.5 - 3.0] respectively 1.1 [95% CI: 0.5-2.4]).

Conclusions: Although RBC transfusion was not identified as a significant prognostic parameter in multivariate analysis, a clear trend for shorter OS and TFS for transfused patients in univariate and Kaplan-Meier survival analysis could be shown.