Anaemia and Blood Transfusion in Cancer

Anaemia is a common complication of bowel disorders, including bowel cancers, but blood transfusions used to correct bleeding have many risks. There are many methods to reduce the need for blood transfusions including using a diathermy or harmonic scalpel (bloodless cutting instruments) and a cell saver to recycle blood.

I demonstrated during my MD thesis that stored blood stimulates cancer growth thus reduction in transfusion requirements may give long term benefits to the patient in addition to avoiding the transmission of blood borne organisms.