Transfusion Requirement in Thrombocytopenia Observed in Patients with Carcinoma Breast Undergoing Chemotherapy

Introduction: Breast cancer is the commonest cancer inurban Indian females, and the second commonest in the ruralIndian women. The estimated number of breast cancer casesin India during 2012 was 145,000 cases with an incidencerate of 25.8 per 100,000 women. In Kerala, Breast cancer hasan annual incidence of 14.9/100,000 population. This studywas carried out with an objective to identify the proportion ofthrombocytopenia and the requirement of platelet transfusionsin these patients.Material and methods: This was a hospital based prospectivestudy, done in the Department of Transfusion medicine fora period of one and a half years from January 2016 to June2017. As per the inclusion criteria 125 consecutive cases whounderwent chemotherapy for Carcinoma Breast at Departmentof Radiotherapy, Govt. Medical College, Thiruvananthapuramwere included for the study. The requirement of platelettransfusions were assessed in these patients. Data wasanalysed with SPSS software (version 21).Results: Among the 125 patients, thrombocytopenia wasnoticed in 5.4% study population in prechemotherapy phase,majority having only grade I thrombocytopenia. In Postchemo phase thrombocytopenia was observed in 11.2% of thestudy group, grade I thrombocytopenia in 8.8% and grade IIthrombocytopenia 2.4% of patients. Platelet transfusion wasrequired in 5.4% of the patients during chemotherapy.Conclusion: Due to the high prevalence of chemotherapyinduced hematological complications, even mild degrees ofthrombocytopenia should be detected and evaluated beforecommencing chemotherapy. Platelet transfusion should bereserved for patients who were really required. This studygives an insight regarding the proportion of thrombocytopeniain patients with carcinoma breast undergoing chemotherapyand their platelet transfusion requirements, which will help intaking care of these patients and inventory management of theblood banks.