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Background: The effects of anesthesia in patients undergoing thyroid cancer surgery are still not known. We investigated the relationship between the type of anesthesia and patient outcomes following elective thyroid cancer surgery., Methods: This was a retrospective cohort study of patients who underwent elective surgical resection for papillary thyroid carcinoma between January 2009 and December 2019. Patients were grouped according to the type of anesthesia they received, desflurane or propofol. A Kaplan-Meier analysis was conducted, and survival/recurrence curves were presented from the date of surgery to death/recurrence. Univariable and multivariable Cox regression models were used to compare hazard ratios for recurrence after propensity matching., Results: A total of 621 patients (22 deaths, 3.5%) under desflurane anesthesia and 588 patients (32 deaths, 5.4%) under propofol anesthesia were included. Five hundred and eighty-eight patients remained in each group after propensity matching. Propofol anesthesia was not associated with better survival compared to desflurane anesthesia in the matched analysis (P = 0.086). However, propofol anesthesia was associated with less recurrence (hazard ratio, 0.38; 95% confidence interval, 0.25-0.56; P < 0.001) in the matched analysis., Conclusions: Propofol anesthesia was associated with less recurrence, but not mortality, following surgery for papillary thyroid carcinoma than desflurane anesthesia. Further prospective investigation is needed to examine the influence of propofol anesthesia on patient outcomes following thyroid cancer surgery., Competing Interests: The authors have declared that no competing interests exist., (Copyright: © 2024 Chiu et al. This is an open access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License, which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original author and source are credited.)

Total intravenous anesthesia (TIVA) with remifentanil and propofol (RP) is considered to be an ideal type of general anesthesia (GA) for pediatric and adult patients undergoing medical procedures. However, delivery of an RP mixture by target-controlled infusion (TCI) for GA in surgical procedures has not been described. We investigated the merit of this approach for breast cancer surgery. Eighty-four patients (n = 42 per group) were randomly allocated to propofol and remifentanil either delivered by separate TCI pumps (S group) or in an RP mixture by a single TCI pump (M group). Dosages were adjusted based on the bispectral index (BIS) and the analgesia nociception index (ANI). The primary outcomes were adequate anesthesia (BIS 40-60 and ANI 50-70, respectively), acceptable hemodynamic fluctuations (<30% of baseline) with less frequent TCI pump adjustments, bolus injections of anesthetics, and total consumption of anesthetics during the procedure. The secondary endpoints included time of emergence from anesthesia, patient satisfaction, postoperative pain, rescue with opioids, and adverse events. The characteristics of patients, hemodynamic parameters, BIS and ANI scores, duration of surgery, anesthesia, and emergence were not significantly different between groups. The adjustment frequency of TCI was significantly higher in the S group (3 (range 0-6) vs. 2 (0-6) times; p = 0.005). The total dosage of anesthetics, pain rating, patient satisfaction, need for opioids postoperatively, and incidence of adverse events were not significantly different. We have demonstrated that this RP mixture provided adequate hypnotic and analgesic effects under BIS and ANI monitoring in patients undergoing breast cancer surgery within 1 h.

There have been immense advances in the safety and variety of intravenous anesthetic delivery systems including drug cost reduction, development of more effective opioids, and improvement in depth of anesthesia monitoring in the last 20 years. Propofol-based total intravenous anesthesia (TIVA) with target-controlled infusion (TCI) is relatively easy to practice. While this technique promotes a higher overall anesthesia quality and patient survival, especially for cancer patients, there are deficiencies in training and education of the technique. Therefore, the Society for Intravenous Anesthesia and the Association of Anesthetists (United Kingdom) have laid out guidelines in an attempt to highlight multiple important TIVA-related safety issues to help clinicians feel more confident. In the present article, we discuss five recommendations and four special clinical situations. Preparation, equipment familiarity, and safe delivery techniques are extremely important for the proper employment of this method. Herein, we emphasize the importance of proper education, and the clinical practice experience of the TIVA technique. Additionally, we suggest a modified connection method to set up a safely administered line. We highlight the advantages of using processed electroencephalogram monitoring (such as bispectral index or Entropy) to prevent awareness during TIVA administration in difficult clinical situations. These situations may include triple low patients (e.g., low blood pressure, low maintained effect-site concentration of propofol, and low body weight ≤ 18), obese patients, and patients with difficult infusion site monitoring or use of neuromuscular blocking agents. Due to a limited consensus among Taiwanese medical professionals, this document is intended to act as a safe practice reference for the use of TIVA with TCI. Additionally, two pithy formula codes, 4321 for propofol with fentanyl/alfentanil and 42222111 for propofol with remifentanil, are provided for the general population and one pithy formula code, 4321 for propofol with fentanyl, is provided for pediatric patients.

Background: Previous research has shown that anesthetic techniques can influence patient outcomes following cancer surgery. However, the effects of anesthesia in patients undergoing glioblastoma surgery are still not known. We studied the relationship between the type of anesthesia and patient outcomes following elective glioblastoma surgery., Methods: This was a retrospective cohort study of patients who underwent elective glioblastoma surgery between January 2008 and December 2018. Patients were grouped according to the anesthesia they received, desflurane or propofol. A Kaplan-Meier analysis was conducted, and survival curves were presented from the date of surgery to death. Univariable and multivariable Cox regression models were used to compare hazard ratios for death after propensity matching., Results: A total of 50 patients (45 deaths, 90.0%) under desflurane anesthesia and 53 patients (38 deaths, 72.0%) under propofol anesthesia were included. Thirty-eight patients remained in each group after propensity matching. Propofol anesthesia was associated with improved survival (hazard ratio, 0.51; 95% confidence interval, 0.30-0.85; P = 0.011) in a matched analysis. Furthermore, patients under propofol anesthesia exhibited less postoperative recurrence than those under desflurane anesthesia (hazard ratio, 0.60; 95% confidence interval, 0.37-0.98; P = 0.040) in a matched analysis., Conclusions: In this limited sample size, we observed that propofol anesthesia was associated with improved survival and less postoperative recurrence in glioblastoma surgery than desflurane anesthesia. Further investigations are needed to examine the influence of propofol anesthesia on patient outcomes following glioblastoma surgery., Competing Interests: The authors have declared that no competing interests exist.

Surgical management of cancer may induce stress and increase the likelihood of cancer metastasis and recurrence. Appropriate surgical and anesthetic techniques may affect the patient's outcome. Although numerous studies have been performed, conflicting results have been obtained regarding the effect of anesthetic techniques on the outcome of patients with cancer. We conducted this study to evaluate the association of anesthetic techniques with overall and recurrence-free survival in patients who had undergone gastric cancer surgery.This retrospective study reviewed the electronic medical records of patients, who had visited our hospital and had been diagnosed with gastric cancer between July 1st, 2006 to June 30th, 2016. Univariate analysis of the potential prognostic factors was performed using the log-rank test for categorical factors, and parameters with a P-value < .05 at the univariate step were included in the multivariate regression analysis. Propensity Score Matching was performed to account for differences in baseline characteristics: propofol or desflurane, in a 1:1 ratio.A total of 408 patients anesthetized with desflurane (218) and propofol (190) were eligible for analysis. After propensity matching, 167 patients remained in each group. The overall mortality rate was significantly higher in the desflurane group (56%) than in the propofol group (34%) during follow-up (P < .001). In addition, a greater percentage of patients in the desflurane group (41%) exhibited postoperative metastasis than those in the propofol group (19%, P < .001).The authors found some association between types of anesthesia used and the long-term prognosis of gastric cancer. Propofol-based total intravenous anesthesia improved survival and reduced the risk of recurrence and metastasis during the 5-year follow-up period after gastric cancer surgery.

Background: Reducing anesthesia-controlled time (ACT) such as extubation time may improve operation room (OR) efficiency result from different anesthetic techniques. However, the information about the difference in ACT between desflurane (DES) anesthesia and propofol-based total intravenous anesthesia (TIVA) techniques for open liver resection under general anesthesia is not available in the literature., Methods: This retrospective study uses our hospital database to analyze the ACT of open liver resection after either DES/fentanyl-based anesthesia or TIVA via target-controlled infusion (TCI) with fentanyl/propofol from January 2010 to December 2011. The various time intervals including waiting for anesthesia time, anesthesia time, surgical time, extubation time, exit from OR after extubation, total OR time, and post-anesthetic care unit stay time and percentage of prolonged extubation (≥ 15 minutes) were compared between the two anesthetic techniques., Results: We included 143 hepatocellular carcinoma patients, with 82 patients receiving TIVA and 61 patients receiving DES. The extubation time was faster (10.1 ± 3.2 min vs. 11.8 ± 5.2 min; P = 0.03), and the incidence of prolonged extubation was lower (9.8% vs. 26.8%; P = 0.02) in the DES group than in the TIVA group. The factors contributed to prolonged extubation were age, sex, anesthetic technique, and anesthesia time., Conclusion: The DES anesthesia provided faster extubation time and lower incidence of prolonged extubation compared with propofol-based TIVA by TCI in elective open liver resection. Besides, older age, male, TIVA, and lengthy anesthesia time were factors affecting prolonged extubation.

Background: Previous researches have shown that anesthetic techniques may influence the patients' outcomes after cancer surgery. Here, we studied the relationship between the type of anesthetic techniques and patients' outcomes following elective robot-assisted radical prostatectomy., Methods: This was a retrospective cohort study of patients who received elective, robot-assisted radical prostatectomy between January 2008 and December 2018. Patients were grouped according to the anesthesia they received, namely desflurane or propofol. A Kaplan-Meier analysis was conducted, and survival curves were presented from the date of surgery to death. Univariable and multivariable Cox regression models were used to compare hazard ratios for death after propensity matching. Subgroup analyses were performed for tumor-node-metastasis stage and disease progression. The primary outcome was overall survival, and the secondary outcome was postoperative biochemical recurrence., Results: A total of 365 patients (24 deaths, 7.0%) under desflurane anesthesia, and 266 patients (2 deaths, 1.0%) under propofol anesthesia were included. The all-cause mortality rate was significantly lower in the propofol anesthesia than in the desflurane anesthesia during follow-up (P = 0.001). Two hundred sixty-four patients remained in each group after propensity matching. The propofol anesthesia was associated with improved overall survival (hazard ratio, 0.11; 95% confidence interval, 0.03-0.48; P = 0.003) in the matched analysis. Subgroup analyses showed that patients under propofol anesthesia had less postoperative biochemical recurrence than those under desflurane (hazard ratio, 0.20; 95% confidence interval, 0.05-0.91; P = 0.038) in the matched analysis., Conclusions: Propofol anesthesia was associated with improved overall survival in robot-assisted radical prostatectomy compared with desflurane anesthesia. In addition, patients under propofol anesthesia had less postoperative biochemical recurrence., Competing Interests: The authors have declared that no competing interests exist.

In ophthalmic surgery, coughing during emergence from general anesthesia may have a detrimental effect on intraocular pressure. Tracheal suction during emergence may elicit this reflex. The optimal effect-site concentration (EC) of propofol to prevent triggering of the cough reflex during tracheal suctioning is unknown. The aim of this study is to assess the optimal EC of propofol for tracheal suctioning during emergence in patients undergoing ophthalmic surgery.Twenty-one patients were enrolled, all of them American Society of Anesthesiologists (ASA) physical status I or II non-smokers undergoing ophthalmic surgery. Anesthesia was induced and maintained under total intravenous anesthesia using target-controlled infusion. During emergence from general anesthesia, tracheal suction was performed at different propofol concentrations as required for Dixon's up-and-down method with a step size of 0.2 μg/ml. A propofol concentration at which the cough reflex was not triggered during tracheal suctioning was considered successful.The EC50 of propofol for tracheal suction without cough was 1.4 μg/ml and the EC95 was 1.6 μg/ml.Tracheal suction may be accomplished without triggering the cough reflex when the propofol effect-site concentration is higher than 1.6 μg/ml.

Background: Breast cancer is the most common cancer in women and several perioperative factors may account for tumor recurrence and metastasis. The anesthetic agents employed during cancer surgery might play a crucial role in cancer cell survival and patient outcomes. We conducted a retrospective cohort study to investigate the relationship between the type of anesthesia and overall survival in patients who underwent breast cancer surgery performed by one experienced surgeon., Methods: All patients who underwent breast cancer surgery by an experienced surgeon between January 2006 and December 2010 were included in this study. Patients were separated into two groups according to the use of desflurane or propofol anesthesia during surgery. Locoregional recurrence and overall survival rates were assessed for the two groups (desflurane or propofol anesthesia). Univariable and multivariable Cox regression models and propensity score matching analyses were used to compare the hazard ratios for death and adjust for potential confounders (age, body mass index, American Society of Anesthesiologists physical status classification, TNM stage, neoadjuvant chemotherapy, Charlson Comorbidity Index, anesthesiologists, and functional status)., Results: Of the 976 breast cancer patients, 632 patients underwent breast cancer surgery with desflurane anesthesia, while 344 received propofol anesthesia. After propensity scoring, 592 patients remained in the desflurane group and 296 patients in the propofol group. The mortality rate was similar in the desflurane (38 deaths, 4%) and propofol (22 deaths, 4%; p = 0.812) groups in 5-year follow-up. The crude hazard ratio (HR) for all patients was 1.13 (95% confidence interval [CI] 0.67-1.92, p = 0.646). No significant difference in the locoregional recurrence or overall 5-year survival rates were found after breast surgery using desflurane or propofol anesthesia (p = 0.454). Propensity score-matched analyses demonstrated similar outcomes in both groups. Patients who received propofol anesthesia had a higher mortality rate than those who received desflurane anesthesia in the matched groups (7% vs 6%, respectively) without significant difference (p = 0.561). In the propensity score-matched analyses, univariable analysis showed an insignificant finding (HR = 1.23, 95% CI 0.72-2.11, p = 0.449). After adjustment for the time since the earliest included patient, the HR remained insignificant (HR = 1.23, 95% CI 0.70-2.16, p = 0.475)., Conclusion: In our non-randomized retrospective analysis, neither propofol nor desflurane anesthesia for breast cancer surgery by an experienced surgeon can affect patient prognosis and survival. The influence of propofol anesthesia on breast cancer outcome requires further investigation., Competing Interests: The authors have declared that no competing interests exist.

Background: Previous studies have shown that anaesthetic technique can affect outcomes of cancer surgery. We investigated the association between anaesthetic technique and patient outcomes after elective hepatectomy for hepatocellular carcinoma., Methods: This was a retrospective single-centre cohort study of patients who received elective hepatectomy for hepatocellular carcinoma from January 2005 to December 2014. Patients were grouped according to propofol or desflurane anaesthesia. Kaplan-Meier analysis was performed and survival curves were constructed from the date of surgery to death. After propensity matching, univariable and multivariable Cox regression models were used to compare hazard ratios for death. Subgroup analyses were performed for tumour-node-metastasis staging and distant metastasis and local recurrence., Results: A total of 492 patients (369 deaths, 75.0%) with desflurane anaesthesia and 452 (139 deaths, 30.8%) with propofol anaesthesia were eligible for analysis. After propensity matching, 335 patients remained in each group. In the matched analysis, propofol anaesthesia had a better survival with hazard ratio of 0.47 (95% confidence interval, 0.38-0.59; P<0.001). Subgroup analyses also showed significantly better survival in the absence of distant metastasis (hazard ratio, 0.47; 95% confidence interval, 0.37-0.60; P<0.001) or local recurrence (hazard ratio, 0.22; 95% confidence interval, 0.14-0.34; P<0.001) in the matched groups., Conclusions: Propofol anaesthesia was associated with better survival in hepatocellular carcinoma patients who underwent hepatectomy. Prospective studies are warranted to evaluate the effects of propofol anaesthesia on surgical outcomes in hepatocellular carcinoma patients., (Copyright © 2019 British Journal of Anaesthesia. Published by Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.)

Simple Summary: Pancreatic cancer is a lethal malignant neoplasm with less than 10% 5-year relative survival after the initial diagnosis. Several factors may be related to the poor prognosis of pancreatic cancer, including the rapid tumor progression, increased metastatic propensity, insignificant symptoms, shortage of early diagnostic biomarkers, and its tendency toward resistance to both chemotherapy and radiotherapy. Pancreatic neoplastic cells interact intimately with a complicated microenvironment that can foster drug resistance, metastasis, or relapse in pancreatic cancer. In addition, evidence shows that perioperative factors, including surgical manipulation, anesthetics, or analgesics, might alter the tumor microenvironment and cancer progression. This review outlines the up-to-date knowledge of anesthesia implications in the pancreatic microenvironment and provides future anesthetic strategies for improving pancreatic cancer survival. Pancreatic malignancy is a lethal neoplasm, as well as one of the leading causes of cancer-associated mortality, having a 5-year overall survival rate of less than 10%. The average life expectancy of patients with advanced pancreatic cancer does not exceed six months. Although surgical excision is a favorable modality for long-term survival of pancreatic neoplasm, metastasis is initially identified in nearly 80% of the patients by the time of diagnosis, making the development of therapeutic policy for pancreatic cancer extremely daunting. Emerging evidence shows that pancreatic neoplastic cells interact intimately with a complicated microenvironment that can foster drug resistance, metastasis, or relapse in pancreatic cancer. As a result, the necessity of gaining further insight should be focused on the pancreatic microenvironment contributing to cancer progression. Numerous evidence reveals that perioperative factors, including surgical manipulation and anesthetics (e.g., propofol, volatile anesthetics, local anesthetics, epidural anesthesia/analgesia, midazolam), analgesics (e.g., opioids, non-steroidal anti-inflammatory drugs, tramadol), and anesthetic adjuvants (such as ketamine and dexmedetomidine), might alter the tumor microenvironment and cancer progression by affecting perioperative inflammatory or immune responses during cancer surgery. Therefore, the anesthesiologist plays an important role in perioperative management and may affect surgical outcomes. However, the literature on the impact of anesthesia on the pancreatic cancer microenvironment and progression is limited. This review summarizes the current knowledge of the implications of anesthesia in the pancreatic microenvironment and provides future anesthetic strategies for improving pancreatic cancer survival rates. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]