ReviewFrontiers in medicine2026
Impact of anesthetic drugs and modalities on the postoperative outcomes in cancer patients: a literature review.
Review in Frontiers in medicine, 2026. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Not yet cited in PubMed.
What it found
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The abstract states no effect estimate the extractor could read, or names no intervention and outcome on the map, so this paper lights no cell and moves no belief. It is still indexed, cited and linked below.
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Trials whose registry record cites this paper, or whose number appears in the abstract. A trial that started after this paper was published is citing it as background, not reporting it.
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Who cites it
0 citing papers in PubMed.
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Authors and funding
4 authors.
Funding
No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.
Abstract
Background: Growing evidence suggests that perioperative anesthesia management may influence long-term oncologic outcomes. This review synthesizes the existing evidence on the impact of anesthetic drugs and modalities on postoperative immunity, recurrence, and survival in cancer patients. Methods: A systematic literature search was conducted in PubMed, Embase, Cochrane Library, and Web of Science from January 2000 to October 2025. Keywords included combinations of "anesthesia," "anesthetic," "cancer," "oncology," "postoperative," "recurrence," "immunity," and "survival." Clinical trials, cohort studies, and meta-analyses were included. Case reports and non-English studies were excluded. Results: Anesthetic choices exert multidimensional effects. Total intravenous anesthesia (TIVA) with propofol and regional anesthesia (RA) techniques are associated with better preservation of natural killer (NK) cell and T-lymphocyte function compared to volatile anesthetics and high-dose opioids. Opioids, particularly morphine, demonstrate dose-dependent immunosuppression (15-30% NK cell reduction). Meta-analyses indicate RA may reduce recurrence risk (OR = 0.82, Conclusion: While preclinical and clinical data suggest that anesthetic strategy can modulate cancer-related outcomes, the evidence is heterogeneous. The observed benefits may be context-dependent, influenced by tumor type, surgical stress, and patient factors. There is an urgent need for large-scale, prospective RCTs with standardized endpoints to establish causal relationships and inform evidence-based, personalized anesthesia protocols for oncology patients.
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