Correction of Anemia and Evaluation of Efficacy of Red Blood Cell Transfusion in Patients with Oncohematological Diseases

Aim. To study the quality of life (QL) of patients with oncohematological diseases and anemia with respect to hemoglobin level and to evaluate the efficacy of red blood cell transfusion (RBCT). Materials & Methods. QL of patients (n = 326) was studied using FACT-An questionnaire. RBCT efficacy was evaluated in two groups. The first group included patients (n = 28; 13 men and 15 women) with oncohematological diseases and chronic anemia aged 23–80 (median 65) years, the second (control) group included patients (n = 12; 11 men and 1 woman) after severe blood loss after injury (acute anemia) aged 25–43 (median 36) years. The baseline levels of hemoglobin (Hb) and hematocrit (Ht) were 80 g/L and > 25 %, respectively. Results. The association between the severity of anemia and QL was shown. The lowest QL was observed in patients with grade III–IV anemia (Hb 60 % only in 67.9 % of patients in the first group and in all the patients (100 %) in the second group. In 32.1 % of patients with various forms of hematologic cancer and chronic anemia tissue hypoxia was still observed after RBCT despite increased Hb > 80 g/L and Ht > 25 %. Therefore, it was proposed to raise the target Hb and Ht threshold levels for patients with low SvO2. Conclusion. The effect of the severity of anemia on QL was demonstrated. The patients with Hb < 80 g/L were shown to have low quality of life. SvO2 determination in anemia patients proved to be of great importance for RBCT efficacy evaluation. In patients with low SvO2 (< 60 %) RBCT should be continued until the target levels of Hb 100 g/L and Ht 33 % are reached