Inhaled anesthesia associated with reduced mortality in patients with stage III breast cancer: A population-based study

Background Patients diagnosed with stage III breast cancer often undergo surgery, radiation therapy, and chemotherapy as part of their treatment. The choice of anesthesia technique during surgery has been a subject of interest due to its potential association with immune changes and prognosis. In this study, we aimed to compare the mortality rates between stage III breast cancer patients undergoing surgery with propofol-based intravenous general anesthesia and those receiving inhaled anesthetics.Methods Using data from Taiwan's National Health Insurance Research Database and Taiwan Cancer Registry, we identified a cohort of 10,896 stage III breast cancer patients. Among them, 1,506 received propofol-based intravenous anesthetic maintenance, while 9,390 received inhaled anesthetic maintenance. To ensure comparability between the two groups, we performed propensity-score matching.Results Our findings revealed a significantly lower mortality rate in patients who received inhaled anesthetics compared to those who received propofol-based intravenous anesthesia. Sensitivity analysis further confirmed the robustness of our results.Conclusions This study suggests that inhaled anesthesia technique is associated with a lower mortality rate in clinical stage III breast cancer. Further research is needed to validate and expand upon these results.