<abstract xmlns="http://www.w3.org/1999/xhtml">

<sec><h3>Background</h3>
<p>Oncological patients make up a large proportion of all surgical patients. Through its influence on the patient’s inflammatory and immune system, the choice of anaesthetic technique has an indirect impact on the health of the individual patient and on public health. Both the specific and the non-specific immune system have a major influence on the recurrence of carcinomas. The pathophysiological basis for growth and metastasis after surgery is the physiological response to stress. Inflammation is the organism’s universal response to stress. Anaesthetics and adjuvants influence perioperative inflammation in different ways and have an indirect effect on tumour growth and metastasis. <italic>In vitro</italic> studies have shown how individual anaesthetics influence the growth and spread of cancer, but clinical studies have not confirmed these results. Nevertheless, it is advisable to use an anaesthetic that has shown lesser effect on the growth of cancer cells <italic>in vitro</italic>.</p>
</sec>
<sec><h3>Conclusions</h3>
<p>In this review, we focus on the area of the effects of anaesthesia on tumour growth. The field is still relatively unexplored, there are only few clinical prospective studies and their results are controversial. Based on the review of new research findings we report on recommendations about anaesthetics and anaesthetic techniques that might be preferable for oncological surgical procedures.</p>
</sec>
</abstract>

Background
Oncological patients make up a large proportion of all surgical patients. Through its influence on the patient’s inflammatory and immune system, the choice of anaesthetic technique has an indirect impact on the health of the individual patient and on public health. Both the specific and the non-specific immune system have a major influence on the recurrence of carcinomas. The pathophysiological basis for growth and metastasis after surgery is the physiological response to stress. Inflammation is the organism’s universal response to stress. Anaesthetics and adjuvants influence perioperative inflammation in different ways and have an indirect effect on tumour growth and metastasis. In vitro studies have shown how individual anaesthetics influence the growth and spread of cancer, but clinical studies have not confirmed these results. Nevertheless, it is advisable to use an anaesthetic that has shown lesser effect on the growth of cancer cells in vitro.

Conclusions
In this review, we focus on the area of the effects of anaesthesia on tumour growth. The field is still relatively unexplored, there are only few clinical prospective studies and their results are controversial. Based on the review of new research findings we report on recommendations about anaesthetics and anaesthetic techniques that might be preferable for oncological surgical procedures.

The influence of anaesthesia on cancer growth

Department of Anaesthesiology and Intensive Care

Department of Anaesthesiology and Surgical Intensive Therapy

Radiology and Oncology

This work is licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License.

{"article-title":"The influence of anaesthesia on cancer growth"}

Background
Oncological patients make up a large proportion of all surgical patients. Through its influence on the patient’s inflammatory and immune system, the...

The influence of anaesthesia on cancer growth

Article Category: Review

Published Online: Feb 21, 2024

Page range: 9 - 14

Received: Sep 10, 2023

Accepted: Nov 22, 2023

DOI: https://doi.org/10.2478/raon-2024-0012

Keywords
cancer growth, anaesthesia, inflammation

© 2024 Iztok Potocnik et al., published by Sciendo

This work is licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License.

The influence of anaesthesia on cancer growth

Article Category: Review

Published Online: Feb 21, 2024

Page range: 9 - 14

Received: Sep 10, 2023

Accepted: Nov 22, 2023

DOI: https://doi.org/10.2478/raon-2024-0012

Keywordscancer growth, anaesthesia, inflammation

© 2024 Iztok Potocnik et al., published by Sciendo

This work is licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License.

Keywords
cancer growth, anaesthesia, inflammation