Type of maintenance anesthesia, whether propofol or sevoflurane, had no effect on circulating tumor cell count after primary breast cancer surgery.

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• Frédérique Hovaguimian, Julia Braun, Birgit Roth Z'graggen, Martin Schläpfer, Claudia Dumrese, Christina Ewald, Konstantin J Dedes, Daniel Fink, Urs Rölli, Manfred Seeberger, Christoph Tausch, Bärbel Papassotiropoulos, Milo A Puhan, and Beatrice Beck-Schimmer.
• From the Institute of Anesthesiology, University Hospital of Zurich and University of Zurich, Zurich, Switzerland (F.H., M.S., B.B.-S.) the Epidemiology, Biostatistics and Prevention Institute, Department of Public and Global Health (F.H.) the Epidemiology, Biostatistics and Prevention Institute, Department of Epidemiology (J.B., M.A.P.) the Institute of Physiology and Zurich Center for Integrative Human Physiology (B.R.Z., M.S., B.B.-S.) the Cytometry Facility (C.D., C.E.), University of Zurich, Zurich, Switzerland the Department of Gynecology, University Hospital of Zurich, Zurich, Switzerland (K.J.D., D.F.) the Institute of Anesthesiology, Hirslanden Clinic Zurich, Zurich, Switzerland (U.R., M.S.) the Faculty of Medicine, University of Basel, Basel, Switzerland (M.S.) the Department of Surgery (C.T.) the Clinical Trial Unit (B.P.), Breast Center Zurich, Zurich, Switzerland the Department of Anesthesiology, University of Illinois College of Medicine at Chicago, Chicago, Illinois (B.B.-S.).
• Anesthesiology. 2020 Sep 1; 133 (3): 548-558.

BackgroundThe effect of anesthetic drugs on cancer outcomes remains unclear. This trial aimed to assess postoperative circulating tumor cell counts-an independent prognostic factor for breast cancer-to determine how anesthesia may indirectly affect prognosis. It was hypothesized that patients receiving sevoflurane would have higher postoperative tumor cell counts.MethodsThe parallel, randomized controlled trial was conducted in two centers in Switzerland. Patients aged 18 to 85 yr without metastases and scheduled for primary breast cancer surgery were eligible. The patients were randomly assigned to either sevoflurane or propofol anesthesia. The patients and outcome assessors were blinded. The primary outcome was circulating tumor cell counts over time, assessed at three time points postoperatively (0, 48, and 72 h) by the CellSearch assay. Secondary outcomes included maximal circulating tumor cells value, positivity (cutoff: at least 1 and at least 5 tumor cells/7.5 ml blood), and the association between natural killer cell activity and tumor cell counts. This trial was registered with ClinicalTrials.gov (NCT02005770).ResultsBetween March 2014 and April 2018, 210 participants were enrolled, assigned to sevoflurane (n = 107) or propofol (n = 103) anesthesia, and eventually included in the analysis. Anesthesia type did not affect circulating tumor cell counts over time (median circulating tumor cell count [interquartile range]; for propofol: 1 [0 to 4] at 0 h, 1 [0 to 2] at 48 h, and 0 [0 to 1] at 72 h; and for sevoflurane: 1 [0 to 4] at 0 h, 0 [0 to 2] at 48 h, and 1 [0 to 2] at 72 h; rate ratio, 1.27 [95% CI, 0.95 to 1.71]; P = 0.103) or positivity. In one secondary analysis, administrating sevoflurane led to a significant increase in maximal tumor cell counts postoperatively. There was no association between natural killer cell activity and circulating tumor cell counts.ConclusionsIn this randomized controlled trial investigating the effect of anesthesia on an independent prognostic factor for breast cancer, there was no difference between sevoflurane and propofol with respect to circulating tumor cell counts over time.

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