The influence of the anaesthetic on survival rates of breast cancer patients after surgery

Abstract

The end results of therapy of 1,358 breast cancer patients were studied. Anaesthesia was performed by ether-nitrogen-oxygen (554 cases) or halothane-nitrogen-oxygen (804 cases) mixture with addition of oxygen. The method of Holstead was employed in all cases. A comparison of groups of patients on the basis of such parameters as the anaesthetic used, age and degree of tumour progression (according to the TNM classification and results of post-operative histological assays) showed them to be identical. The study showed that the type of anaesthesia influenced the end results of therapy of cancer patients: the survival rates of patients receiving halothane anaesthesia were much higher than those of the ether-anaesthetized patients. The differences were most pronounced among patients who received pre-operative radiation therapy and post-operative chemotherapy as well as in cases of metastasis spread into regional lymph nodes. The mechanism of the effect of the anaesthetic on the survival rates of cancer patients may be explained on the basis of the data available on the varying influences of anaesthetics on the pituitary-adrenal cortec system and carcinemia development during operation as well as the role of immunity in tumour cell implantation and growth of metastases.