Local anaesthetic use in cancer surgery and disease recurrence: role of voltage-gated sodium channels? British Journal of Anaesthesia, 2015; 113(6): 899-902, DOI 10.1093/bja/aeu221.

Sodium channels and the synaptic mechanisms of inhaled anaesthetics.

General anaesthetics act in an agent-specific manner on synaptic transmission in the central nervous system by enhancing inhibitory transmission and reducing excitatory transmission. The synaptic mechanisms of general anaesthetics involve both presynaptic effects on transmitter release and postsynaptic effects on receptor function. The halogenated volatile anaesthetics inhibit neuronal voltage-...

Effect of anaesthetic technique and other perioperative factors on cancer recurrence.

Surgical excision is the mainstay of treatment for potentially curable solid tumours. Metastatic disease is the most important cause of cancer-related death in these patients. The likelihood of tumour metastases depends on the balance between the metastatic potential of the tumour and the anti-metastatic host defences, of which cell-mediated immunity, and natural killer cell function in particu...

Can anaesthetic and analgesic techniques affect cancer recurrence or metastasis?

Cancer is a leading cause of morbidity and mortality worldwide and the ratio of incidence is increasing. Mortality usually results from recurrence or metastases. Surgical removal of the primary tumour is the mainstay of treatment, but this is associated with inadvertent dispersal of neoplastic cells into the blood and lymphatic systems. The fate of the dispersed cells depends on the balance of ...

Special issue on anaesthesia and cancer.

The hypothesis that anaesthetic and analgesic technique during cancer surgery affects recurrence or metastasis was first proposed in 2006 and has since become one of the most important research questions in the speciality, as confirmed in a recent research priority setting exercise. Building on the success of the inaugural BJA Workshop on Anaesthetic Neurotoxicity and Neuroplasticity held in Sa...

Ultrasound reduces the minimum effective local anaesthetic volume.