Effect of regional anesthesia on long-term survival after oncology surgery: a meta-analysis of randomized controlled trails
ZHANG Hanping1, LIU Hua2, JIANG Jing1, CAI Yulu1
1. Department of Anesthesiology,2. Department of Characteristic Speciality,Jiangsu Provincial Corps Hospital,Chinese People's Armed Police Force,Yangzhou 225003,China
Abstract：Objective To study the effect of regional anesthesia (RA) on long-term survival of cancer patients. Methods Pubmed, Cochrane Library and Embase were searched for randomized controlled trails (RCTs) published from inception to September 4, 2020, in which RA was initiated perioperatively. The time-to-event data (hazard ratio (HR)) was retrieved independently and in duplicate. Pooled estimates of recurrence-free survival (RFS) and overall survival (OS) were calculated. Results Eight RCTs involving 3337 participants were included. Compared with general anesthesia (GA), RA had no effect on RFS (-0.07, 95% CI,-0.22 to 0.08) (GRADE A), OS (0.05, 95% CI, -0.2 to 0.11) (GRADE A), time to tumor progression (0.03, 95% CI, -0.36 to 0.41) (GRADE C) , five-year RFS (risk ratio (RR), 1.26, 95% CI, 0.66 to 2.4) (GRADE C) or 5-year OS (RR, 1.19, 95% CI, 0.73 to 1.96) (GRADE C). Subgroup analysis based on study design, patient characteristics and tumor types also showed no effect of RA on RFS or OS. Conclusions There is no significant evidence supporting the role of RA in improving long-term survival after oncology surgery.
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2021, Vol. 32 
