The incidence of perioperative anemia and iron deficiency in patients undergoing gyne-oncology surgery

Saudia Jadunandan; Ruby Tano; Danielle Vicus; Jeannie Callum; Yulia Lin

doi:10.5737/236880763217580

The incidence of perioperative anemia and iron deficiency in patients undergoing gyne-oncology surgery

Can Oncol Nurs J. 2022 Feb 1;32(1):75-80. doi: 10.5737/236880763217580. eCollection 2022 Winter.

Authors

Saudia Jadunandan¹, Ruby Tano¹, Danielle Vicus², Jeannie Callum³, Yulia Lin³

Affiliations

¹ Department of OR and Related Services, Sunnybrook Health Sciences and Ontario Transfusion Coordinators Network, University of Toronto, Ontario, Canada.
² Division of Gynecology, Sunnybrook Health Sciences Centre and Department of Surgery, University of Toronto, Toronto, Ontario, Canada.
³ Department of Laboratory Medicine and Molecular Diagnostics, Sunnybrook Health Sciences Centre; Department of Laboratory Medicine and Pathobiology, University of Toronto; and University of Toronto Quality in Utilization, Education and Safety in Transfusion (QUEST) Research Program, Toronto, Ontario, Canada.

Abstract

Preoperative anemia is progressively being recognized as a risk factor for poor perioperative outcomes including increased length of hospital stay and increased blood transfusions. The growth in prevalence of preoperative anemia in patients undergoing gynecological oncology procedures warrants greater attention to early identification for optimal surgical outcomes. This was a quantitative retrospective observational study consisting of 284 patients undergoing gynecological oncology procedures. The study sought to determine the frequency of anemia, iron deficiency and the effect of anemia on the number of blood transfusions from January 1 to December 31, 2014. Patients with anemia had significantly higher transfusion rates (44% versus 11%, p < 0.0001), considerably higher number of units transfused per patient (mean 1.19 units versus 0.28 units, p < 0.0001) and longer length of stays post-operatively (mean 5.9 days versus 4.6 days, p=0.0008). It was concluded that early identification and treatment of anemia is a key opportunity to optimized surgical outcomes.

Keywords: anemia; gynecological oncology procedures; iron studies.