Transfusion Requirement in Anemia observed in Patients with Carcinoma Breast undergoing Chemotherapy

Introduction: Carcinoma Breast is the second most commonmalignancyaffecting women. Adjuvant chemotherapy is themainstay treatment modality along with surgery. Anemiaand thrombocytopenia are the hematological complicationsin patients with breast cancer who undergo chemotherapy.This study was carried out with an objective to identify theproportion of anemia and the requirement of Packed Red Cellstransfusions in these patients.Material and methods: This is ahospital based prospectivestudy, done for a period of one and a half years from January2016 to June 2017.As per the inclusion criteria125 consecutivecases who underwent chemotherapy for Carcinoma Breastat Department of Radiotherapy, Govt. Medical College,Thiruvananthapuram were included for the study. Therequirement of Packed Red Cell (PRC) was assessed in thesepatients. Data was analysed with SPSS software (version 21).Results: Among the 125 patients, 60% of patients wereanemic in prechemotherapyphase with a preponderance ofmild anemia,haemoglobin (Hb) 11-11.9gm/dl (as per theWHO classification of anemia in non pregnant females).Inpost chemotherapy phase the prevalence of anemia was94.4% withincreasing severity; majority (56%) of patients hadmoderate anemia (Hb 8-10.9gm/dl). During chemotherapy,22.4% of the study population required PRC transfusion.Conclusion: Due to the high prevalence of chemotherapyinduced anemia and itseffects on quality of life (QOL), evenmild degrees of anemia should be detected and evaluatedbefore commencing chemotherapy. PRC transfusion shouldbe reserved for patients with severe anemia