Purpose: The purpose of this study is to investigate the influence of anesthetic methods on markers of anti-tumor immunity and intestinal functions in fast-track surgery in colon cancer (CC) patients during the perioperative period.
Patients and methods: A total of 53 patients with American Society of Anesthesiologists (ASA) I-II status randomly received general anesthesia (G group, n = 27) or general anesthesia combined with epidural anesthesia (E group, n = 26) for surgical tumor resection. The recovery times of intestinal function were evaluated in both groups postoperatively. The frequencies of different subsets of CD4+ T cells and myeloid-derived suppressor cells and C-reactive protein (CRP) were measured by flow cytometry and enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay, respectively, before anesthesia (t0), 1 h after the beginning of surgery (t1), 1 h after the end of surgery (t2), and on day 2 (t3) and day 5 (t4) post-surgery.
Results: There was no significant difference in demographic characteristics between the two groups, but the E group of patients received significantly lower amounts of morphine and sevoflurane. In comparison with those in the G group, significantly greater numbers of lymphocytes and elevated frequencies of Th1 cells were detected at t3 and t4 post-surgery in the E group (p < 0.01). Significantly lower percentages of Th2 cells and regulatory T cells were detected in the E group at t2-4 post-surgery. Whereas the levels of plasma CRP increased post-surgery in both groups, the levels of CRP were significantly lower in the E group than those in the G group at t3-4 post-surgery (p < 0.05). The times to the first flatus and to tolerate a full diet were significantly shorter in the E group than those in the G group (p < 0.01).
Conclusion: General anesthesia combined with epidural anesthesia plays an important role in fast-track surgery, mitigating the surgical stress-related impairment of anti-tumor immune responses and hastening the recovery of intestinal function. This combination might also help to improve long-term outcomes for CC patients.