Blood salvage therapy in oncologic liver surgery is seldom used based on unproven concerns about the safety of the technique regarding potential cancer dissemination or recurrence. Nevertheless, the technique has proven advantages in other surgical settings regarding the allogenic transfusion outcomes. Allogenic blood transfusion has been scientifically proven to worsen prognosis in oncologic surgery. This study compares a cohort of patients systematically exposed the blood salvage therapy to one comparable cohort without the therapy and outcomes regarding transfusion rates, post-operative Hb measurement, recurrence, overall survival, and post-operative adverse events.
A before and after trial comparing the systematic use of blood salvage therapy with leucocyte filter during oncologic liver resections. Recurrence, survival, allogenic transfusion rates and surgical outcomes are compared with a representative historic cohort.