Anemia and long-term outcome in adjuvant and neoadjuvant radiochemotherapy of stage II and III rectal adenocarcinoma: The Freiburg experience (1989-2002)

Table 6 Anemia and hemoglobin increase versus decrease during radiotherapy (subgroup analysis of 199 patients with documented hemoglobin values before and after radiotherapy)

		OAS (%)	CSS (%)	DFS(%)	LRS (%)	DRS (%)
Anemia before RCT
No	5 yr / 10 yr:	44.6 / 31.4	66.4 / 66.4	41.5 / 33.7	76.6 / 76.6	74.9 / 74.9
Yes	5 yr / 10 yr:	49.5 / 47.2	55.4 / 45.6	48.5 / 39.2	61.5 / 59.6	88.1 / 88.1
	uni- / multivariate: P =	0.39 / NS	0.14 / NS	0.83 / 0.04	0.04 / NS	0.01 / NS
	multivariate risk ratio:			anemia present: 0.76
				(CI 0.57 – 0.99)
Anemia after RCT
No	5 yr / 10 yr:	47.5 / 34.0	57.4 / 48.4	42.5 / 34.7	87.6 / 87.6	62.7 / 60.7
Yes	5 yr / 10 yr:	47.0 / 41.5	64.7 / 59.3	39.6 / 35.9	80.0 / 80.0	73.0 / 73.0
	uni- / multivariate: P =	0.76 / NS	0.56 / NS	0.83 / NS	0.12 / NS	0.06 / NS
	multivariate risk ratio:
Hemoglobin (Hb) increase or decrease during RT
Hb increase	5 yr / 10 yr:	67.7 / 59.3	58.8 / 51.4	45.2 / 45.2	83.8 / 83.8	62.8 / 62.8
Hb decrease	5 yr / 10 yr:	35.3 / 35.3	38.7 / 33.9	36.2 / 36.2	73.9 / 73.9	75.9 / 75.9
	uni- / multivariate: P =	< 0.01 / NS	< 0.01 / NS	0.08 / 0.04	0.38 / NS	0.79 / NS
	multivariate risk ratio:			Hb decrease: 1.97
				(CI 1.02 – 3.43)

Survival rates and results of the uni- and multivariate analysis as well as risk ratio with confidence interval (CI) are given if multivariate analysis (step down analysis) revealed a significant result. Five- and 10-year survival rates are given as OAS, CSS, DFS, LRS and DRS