Perioperative and cancer relapse: a challenge in current anesthetic practice

Abstract

Introduction:

Cancer is the second cause of death worldwide and in Cuba. Its treatment strategy involves oncospecific drugs and surgery. Every day, the number of patients who undergo surgery increases, which leads to a perioperative period and the administration of multiple anesthetic medications.

Objective:

To describe the main factors related to anesthesia and that, during the perioperative period, influence oncological recurrence.

Development:

Surgical stress and general anesthesia, with the subsequent neuroendocrine and inflammatory response, by themselves, limit the immune response and alter the balance between the metastatic potential of the tumor and the antimetastatic defense, which represents a plausible mechanism for increased metastasis and oncological relapse.

Conclusions:

The proliferation of cancer and tumor relapse in the surgical context associated with anesthesia is a relatively new issue and it is therefore necessary to carry out studies with greater scope that validate this phenomenon. However, the immunosuppressive effect produced by perioperative stress, as well as anesthetic drugs such as opioids and halogenated drugs, can be the key to explaining this phenomenon. Total intravenous opioid-free general anesthesia and adequate regional analgesia contribute to diminish this effect.

Keywords: cancer; relapse; metastasis; immunosuppression; opioid-free.