The effects of intra- and post-operative anaesthesia and analgesia choice on outcome after gastric cancer resection: a retrospective study

BACKGROUND: Epidural use can provide a better short-term outcome and protect patients from the postoperative development of tumour recurrence and metastases. In this study, we sought to assess the effects of intra- and postoperative anaesthesia and analgesia choice on outcome after gastric cancer resection, searched for evidence of interaction between intra-and postoperative epidural use and outcomes of gastric cancer patients. METHODS: Four thousand two hundred and eighteen cases of gastric cancer were identified from the Records of Hospital Patients. Patients who received only general anesthesia (GA group) or epidural anesthesia combined with general anesthesia (EGA group), were administered patient-controlled intravenous or epidural analgesia for 72-120 hours postoperatively. Flatus time, length of stay in hospital, incidence of nausea and vomiting, and visual analogue scale (VAS ) scores were collected for evaluating the short-outcome of the patients. A Kaplan-Meier log-rank test was used for a univariable analysis, and Cox proportional hazards regressions were used for a multivariable analysis of the survival time in both groups. RESULTS: The VAS scores and incidence of nausea and vomiting in the EGA group were lower than the GA group. There was a significant association between intra-and postoperative epidural use and improved survival. CONCLUSIONS: These results indicated that epidural anaesthesia combined with general anaesthesia and patient-controlled epidural analgesia may be associated with the improved overall survival in gastric cancer patients who underwent resection.