Clinical efficacy of anesthesia with intensive care nursing in attenuating postoperative complications in patients with breast cancer

OBJECTIVE: Complications frequently occur in patients with breast cancer after surgery. Anesthesia nursing plays an important role in decreasing complications for such patients. Thus, this study investigated the effects of anesthesia with intensive care nursing (AICN) on complication rates in patients with breast cancer after surgery. METHODS: Eighty-two patients with breast cancer were recruited in this study. Complications were compared between the anesthesia with usual nursing care (AUCN) and AICN groups. RESULTS: The results demonstrated that AICN decreased the rates of incision infection, drug extravasation, and catheter exposure, as well as pain and inflammation scores, compared with the findings in the AUCN group. AICN improved the time to orientation and decreased the incidence of nausea, anxiety, depression, and vomiting versus AUCN. In addition, AICN shortened the time to awakening after anesthesia compared with the effects of AUCN. Furthermore, AICN shortened hospital stay and increased survival rates. Notably, AICN improved health-related quality of life as measured using the EORTC QLQ-C30 questionnaire. CONCLUSION: AICN provided more benefits and better postoperative outcomes than AUCN, suggesting its utility for minimizing complications in patients with breast cancer after surgery.