Blood transfusions for anaemia in patients with advanced cancer.

Anaemia occurs in 68% to 77% of patients with advanced cancer, however, only a minority of patients who are admitted to a hospice receive a blood transfusion. It is unclear what the benefit of blood transfusion is in advanced cancer, who is most likely to respond and also for how long. Hence we conducted a systematic review to assess the use of blood transfusion in advanced cancer.