Does autologous blood transfusion during liver transplantation for hepatocellular carcinoma increase risk of recurrence?

Table 1 Clinicopathological distribution according to the use of autologous intraoperative blood salvage for patients with hepatocellular carcinoma who underwent liver transplantation

	Total (%) n = 158	Intraoperative blood salvage		P
		Yes (%) n = 122 (77.2)	No (%) n = 36 (22.8)
Age1	58 (51-62)	58 (51-62)	58 (51-62)	0.958
Male gender	122 (77.2)	95 (77.9)	27 (75)	0.821
BMI12	25.7 (23.6-27.8)	25.7 (23.6-27.8)	25.5 (23.5-2.3)	0.712
Pre-op AFP3	9.2 (3.7-35.4)	8.9 (3.5-3.6)	10.9 (6.7-33.7)	0.175
Cirrhosis4	135 (88.3)	100 (84.8)	35 (100)	0.014
Alcohol4	22 (14.4)	18 (15.3)	4 (11.4)	0.785
Hepatitis4
B	20 (13.1)	12 (10.2)	8 (22.9)	0.082
C	97 (63.4)	73 (61.9)	24 (68.6)	0.551
Others4	8 (5.2)	8 (6.8)	0	0.199
Blood type				0.420
A	60 (37)	42 (34.4)	18 (50)
B	21 (13.3)	17 (13.9)	4 (11.1)
AB	14 (8.9)	11 (9)	3 (8.3)
O	63 (39.9)	52 (42.6)	11 (30.6)
Rhesus5	123 (86.6)	93 (86.1)	30 (88.3)	1.000
MELD1	10 ( 8-15)	10.5 (9-17)	9 (8-13.5)	0.058
Radiofrequency4	4 (2.6)	3 (2.6)	1 (2.8)	1.000
Chemoembolization4	69 (45.1)	53 (45.3)	16 (44.5)	1.000
Alcoholization4	7 (4.6)	5 (4.3)	2 (5.6)	0.668
Graft/body proportion12	1.75 (1.5-2.2)	1.8 (1.5-2.2)	1.7 (1.4– 2.2)	0.454
Number of lesions1	2 (1-3)	2 (1-3)	2 (1-3)	0.715
Largest lesion, mm1	25 (19-31)	25 (19-30)	25 (18-35)	0.384
Edmond-steiner degree (III and IV)6	88 (59.9)	67 (58.8)	21 (63.5)	0.689
Vascular invasion	53 (33.6)	44 (36.1)	9 (25)	0.236
Microsatellite lesions	26 (16.5)	19 (15.6)	7 (19.4)	0.612
Cholangiocarcinoma	6 (3.8)	6 (4.9)	0	0.338
Recurrence	14 (8.9)	10 (8.2)	4 (11.1)	0.525
Death	52 (32.9)	41 (33.6)	11 (30.6)	0.841

¹Expressed as median (p25-p75);

²N = 150;

³N = 148;

⁴N = 153;

⁵N = 142;

⁶N = 147. BMI: Body mass index; AFP: Alpha-feto protein; MELD: Model of end-stage liver disease.