Reduced Cancer Risk, Improved Survival With Neuraxial Anesthesia

 

Neuraxial anesthesia (NA) appears to be associated with improved overall survival (OS) in patients undergoing surgery for tumor resection, particularly in those with colorectal cancer. According to a recent meta-analysis published in Oncotarget (2016;7:15262-15273), the authors identified a correlation between the use of NA and reduced risk for cancer recurrence.

 The authors found significantly improved OS and reduced cancer recurrence with NA versus general anesthesia (GA). This finding is among those that show that anesthetic technique correlates with clinically important outcomes, including mortality and morbidity. “Specifically, we found a positive association between neuraxial anesthesia and improved OS in colorectal cancer (HR [hazard ratio] 0.653; 95% CI 0.430-0.991, P=0.045, the random-effects model),” they explained.

 “Our results suggest that … the use of [NA] has been found to be associated with improved OS after colorectal cancer, prostate cancer, gastro-oesophageal cancer, laryngeal and hypopharyngeal cancer, and ovarian cancer surgery,” the researchers wrote.

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