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Survival after primary breast cancer surgery following propofol or sevoflurane general anesthesia—A retrospective, multicenter, database analysis of 6305 Swedish patients

Enlund, Mats ; Berglund, Anders ; Ahlstrand, Rebecca ; Walldén, Jakob ; Lundberg, Johan LU ; Wärnberg, Fredrik ; Ekman, Andreas ; Sjöblom Widfeldt, Nina ; Enlund, Anna and Bergkvist, Leif (2020) In Acta Anaesthesiologica Scandinavica 64(8). p.1048-1054
Abstract

Background: Retrospective studies indicate that the choice of anesthetic can affect long-term cancer survival. Propofol seems to have an advantage over sevoflurane. However, this is questioned for breast cancer. We gathered a large cohort of breast cancer surgery patients from seven Swedish hospitals and hypothesized that general anesthesia with propofol would be superior to sevoflurane anesthesia regarding long-term breast cancer survival. Methods: We identified all patients who were anaesthetized for breast cancer surgery between 2006 and 2012. The patients were matched to the Swedish Breast Cancer Quality Register, to retrieve tumor characteristics, prognostic factors, and adjuvant treatment as well as date of death. Overall survival... (More)

Background: Retrospective studies indicate that the choice of anesthetic can affect long-term cancer survival. Propofol seems to have an advantage over sevoflurane. However, this is questioned for breast cancer. We gathered a large cohort of breast cancer surgery patients from seven Swedish hospitals and hypothesized that general anesthesia with propofol would be superior to sevoflurane anesthesia regarding long-term breast cancer survival. Methods: We identified all patients who were anaesthetized for breast cancer surgery between 2006 and 2012. The patients were matched to the Swedish Breast Cancer Quality Register, to retrieve tumor characteristics, prognostic factors, and adjuvant treatment as well as date of death. Overall survival between patients undergoing sevoflurane and propofol anesthesia was analyzed with different statistical approaches: (a) multiple Cox regression models adjusted for demographic, oncological, and multiple control variables, (b) propensity score matching on the same variables, but also including the participating centers as a cofactor in a separate analysis. Results: The database analysis identified 6305 patients. The 5-year survival rates were 91.0% and 81.8% for the propofol and sevoflurane group, respectively, in the final model (P =.126). Depending on the statistical adjustment method used, different results were obtained, from a non-significant to a "proposed" and even a "determined" difference in survival that favored propofol, with a maximum of 9.2 percentage points higher survival rate at 5 years (hazard ratio 1.46, 95% CI 1.10-1.95). Conclusions: It seems that propofol may have a survival advantage compared with sevoflurane among breast cancer patients, but the inherent weaknesses of retrospective analyses were made apparent.

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organization
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type
Contribution to journal
publication status
published
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in
Acta Anaesthesiologica Scandinavica
volume
64
issue
8
pages
7 pages
publisher
Wiley-Blackwell
external identifiers
  • scopus:85086240580
  • pmid:32415980
ISSN
0001-5172
DOI
10.1111/aas.13644
language
English
LU publication?
yes
id
f250b791-0a41-4bbd-b3c0-e0d30566b0d8
date added to LUP
2020-07-02 15:05:39
date last changed
2024-06-12 16:30:25
@article{f250b791-0a41-4bbd-b3c0-e0d30566b0d8,
  abstract     = {{<p>Background: Retrospective studies indicate that the choice of anesthetic can affect long-term cancer survival. Propofol seems to have an advantage over sevoflurane. However, this is questioned for breast cancer. We gathered a large cohort of breast cancer surgery patients from seven Swedish hospitals and hypothesized that general anesthesia with propofol would be superior to sevoflurane anesthesia regarding long-term breast cancer survival. Methods: We identified all patients who were anaesthetized for breast cancer surgery between 2006 and 2012. The patients were matched to the Swedish Breast Cancer Quality Register, to retrieve tumor characteristics, prognostic factors, and adjuvant treatment as well as date of death. Overall survival between patients undergoing sevoflurane and propofol anesthesia was analyzed with different statistical approaches: (a) multiple Cox regression models adjusted for demographic, oncological, and multiple control variables, (b) propensity score matching on the same variables, but also including the participating centers as a cofactor in a separate analysis. Results: The database analysis identified 6305 patients. The 5-year survival rates were 91.0% and 81.8% for the propofol and sevoflurane group, respectively, in the final model (P =.126). Depending on the statistical adjustment method used, different results were obtained, from a non-significant to a "proposed" and even a "determined" difference in survival that favored propofol, with a maximum of 9.2 percentage points higher survival rate at 5 years (hazard ratio 1.46, 95% CI 1.10-1.95). Conclusions: It seems that propofol may have a survival advantage compared with sevoflurane among breast cancer patients, but the inherent weaknesses of retrospective analyses were made apparent.</p>}},
  author       = {{Enlund, Mats and Berglund, Anders and Ahlstrand, Rebecca and Walldén, Jakob and Lundberg, Johan and Wärnberg, Fredrik and Ekman, Andreas and Sjöblom Widfeldt, Nina and Enlund, Anna and Bergkvist, Leif}},
  issn         = {{0001-5172}},
  language     = {{eng}},
  number       = {{8}},
  pages        = {{1048--1054}},
  publisher    = {{Wiley-Blackwell}},
  series       = {{Acta Anaesthesiologica Scandinavica}},
  title        = {{Survival after primary breast cancer surgery following propofol or sevoflurane general anesthesia—A retrospective, multicenter, database analysis of 6305 Swedish patients}},
  url          = {{http://dx.doi.org/10.1111/aas.13644}},
  doi          = {{10.1111/aas.13644}},
  volume       = {{64}},
  year         = {{2020}},
}