What Is the Benefit of a Blood Transfusion During Cancer Treatment?

Blood product transfusions are done when certain elements in the blood itself have been lost, are not being made, or not enough is produced. Many times, treatments against cancer can cause the loss of blood elements.

Causes for Low Blood Cell Count

• Certain chemotherapy drugs, radiation therapy, cancers of the blood and bone marrow, and cancers that spread (metastasize) can damage bone marrow and kill young blood cells. White blood cell, red blood cell, and platelet levels are checked for signs of damage or a low count.

Anemia

• When low red blood cell counts are present during cancer treatment, transfusions can be beneficial. They can replace damaged or dead red blood cells, as in the case of anemia caused by cancer drugs or radiation.

Chemotherapy or Radiation Therapy

• Drugs used for killing cancerous cells can also kill healthy red blood cells and damage the bone marrow from which red blood cells are made. Blood transfusions serve to replace red blood cells destroyed by these treatments.

Bleeding

• Some cancers, such as cancer of the digestive system, cause internal bleeding. Leukemia, a cancer of the blood, and bone marrow cancer kill many red blood cells. A blood transfusion can replace lost blood cells.

Surgery

• Surgery to treat cancer is considered a major operation and can lead to much blood and platelet loss. Blood transfusions are necessary when the bone marrow of patients with leukemia and bone marrow cancer is destroyed through chemotherapy or radiation therapy. Radiation is performed to ensure that the patient is cancer-free before a bone marrow transplant is performed.