The impact of anaemia on treatment outcome in patients with squamous cell carcinoma of anal canal and anal margin

Hb (g/L)	No. of patients	Median Hb (g/L)	Hb range (g/L)
Pre-treatment Hb		128	86–169
> 120 g/L	69	136	122–169
≤ 120 g/L	31	107	86–120
Mean on-treatment Hb		127	96–157
>120 g/L	67	134	121–157
≤ 120 g/L	33	113	96–119
End-of-treatment Hb		121	77–159
> 120 g/L	46	134	121–159
≤ 120 g/L	54	114	77–120

Toxicity			Grade
	0	1	2	3	4	Total
Stomatitis	68	12	10	9	1	100
Nausea, vomiting	79	9	9	3	0	100
Diarrhoea	57	17	12	13	1	100
Hand-foot syndrome Only in patients treated with capecitabine	22	0	1	2	0	25
Radiodermatitis	10	12	13	64	1	100
Infection	51	14	23	9	3	100
Leucocyte count	37	31	20	10	2	100
Haemoglobin level	43	44	11	2	0	100
Platelet count	58	36	3	3	0	100

Characteristics	n	LRC	DFS	DSS	OS
Pre-treatment Hb
		79%	77%	85%	73%
> 120 g/L	69
		57%	57%	56%	39%
≤ 120 g/L	31
		P = 0.011	P = 0.017	P = 0.003	P = 0.000
Mean on-treatment Hb
		78%	76%	82%	68%
> 120 g/L	67
		60%	60%	67%	50%
≤ 120 g/L	33
		P = 0.037	P = 0.054	P = 0.081	P = 0.007
End-of-treatment Hb
		82%	80%	89%	75%
> 120 g/L	46
		63%	63%	65%	49%
≤ 120 g/L	54
		P = 0.022	P = 0.037	P = 0.011	P = 0.003
Performance status
		73%	73%	80%	72%
PS 0	76
		69%	64%	66%	34%
PS 1–3	24
		P = 0.480	P = 0.283	P = 0.231	P = 0.000
Tumour stage
		75%	75%	84%	68%
T1–3	86
		50%	44%	38%	25%
T4	14
		P = 0.054	P = 0.015	P = 0.000	P = 0.001
Lymph node involvement
no	65	79%	79%	87%	70%
yes	35	59%	56%	60%	48%
		P = 0.032	P = 0.017	P = 0.000	P = 0.000
Overall disease stage
		79%	79%	87%	70%
I / II
	64
IIIA / IIIB		59%	57%	61%	49%
	36
		P = 0.044	P = 0.025	P = 0.000	P = 0.000
Histologic tumour type
basaloid	12	100%	100%	100%	100%
squamous	88	68%	67%	74%	57%
		P = 0.030	P = 0.026	P = 0.051	P = 0.016
Tumour site
		69%	68%	78%	62%
anal canal	72
		81%	81%	73%	61%
anal margin	28
		P = 0.250	P = 0.212	P = 0.994	P = 0.738
Blood transfusion
no		72%	71%	78%	64%
	91
yes		0%	0%	0%	0%
	9
		P = 0.993	P = 0.950	P = 0.333	P = 0.044
Overall radiation time
		89%	89%	93%	83%
≤ 1,08 months	29
		64%	63%	69%	51%
> 1,08 months	71
		P = 0.015	P = 0.011	P = 0.012	P = 0.012
Operation
no	73	89%	88%	88%	69%
yes	27	29%	29%	52%	45%
		P = 0.000	P < 0.000	P = 0.001	P = 0.018

Publication timeframe:: 4 times per year
Journal Subjects:: Medicine, Clinical Medicine, Radiology, Internal Medicine, Haematology, Oncology