The study, published in The British Journal of Surgery, shows that giving intravenous iron before colon surgery improves patient outcomes by 33 percent, reducing the need for blood transfusion requirements.

Anemia is a common issue in people undergoing colon surgery due to gastrointestinal bleeding and blood loss during the procedure. Anemia is also associated with fatigue and morbidity after surgery, as well as prolonged recovery and other outcomes.

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blood transfusion requirements are used when blood levels are low, but there are concerns that colon cancer patients who have received blood transfusion requirements may be at greater risk of complications and cancer recurrence. Anemia is often treated with iron, and a full course of medication is administered intravenously in 15-30 minutes. Until now, intravenous iron has been rarely used, while the question of whether treating patients before major surgery will reduce the need for blood transfusion requirements remains unanswered.

Researchers from UCL carried out a meta-analysis of five randomized controlled trials in this study, focusing on the subset of patients from those trials who had undergone colon surgery.

The analysis showed that patients who had received an iron infusion were 33 percent less likely to need a blood transfusion requirements during or after surgery.

Patients were divided into two groups in these trials: a control group and a group that received intravenous iron before surgery.

Professor Toby Richards, senior author of the study from UCL’s Department of Surgery & Interventional Sciences, said, “This is the first clinical trial to demonstrate a patient benefit from pre-operative iron infusion therapy, which has the potential to treat anaemia. and reduce the need for blood transfusion requirements. Previous studies had not shown this benefit in all patients undergoing surgery in the NHS, but this analysis identifies a small group of patients undergoing gastric bypass surgery who will see a benefit.”

Professor Neil Smart, a colorectal surgeon from the Royal Devon and Exeter Hospital and co-leader of the study, said, “With more than 20,000 new colorectal cancer cases a year in the UK, the results of this study have the potential to improving the outcome of the disease. The second most common cause of cancer death In the past, surgeons were not sure whether the benefits of blood transfusion requirements could be achieved in the short term of cancer care and therefore the use of this treatment was limited. Our results indicate that better outcomes may be achieved if iron infusion is given in the period between cancer diagnosis and surgery.”

As well as reducing the risk to patients, fewer blood transfusion requirements would be good news at a time when there is a shortage of blood in the UK.

The British Society of Haematology’s vice president, Sue Pavord, stated: “With the recent blood shortages in the UK, it is more crucial than ever to concentrate on ways to avoid blood transfusion requirements.” and their associated risks. This analysis shows a reduction of more than one-third in blood transfusion requirements when anemic patients are treated with intravenous iron before their colorectal surgery. If we can combine this insight with others from the previous PREVENT study, then hospital readmissions could be reduced even further, which would be important for patients and the NHS.