Kata Šakić

Anaesthetic implications of anticancer chemotherapy.

In anaesthetic practice we deal with cancer patients who are scheduled for operations on tumours or other manifestations of malignant disease. Those patients are often debilitated and have significant weight loss accompanied with hypoproteinaemia, anaemia and coagulation disorders. Oncological patients usually present to the anaesthetist before tumour disease surgery, but they are also candidates for elective operations (e.g. hernia repair) and urgent/emergency surgery (e.g. trauma, fractures and ileus). Chemotherapeutic agents given to these patients are potentially noxious, can affect the conduct of anaesthesia and, furthermore, may aggravate the patients condition. In this review the most commonly used cytostatic drug regimens and their common side-effects are listed. Some preclinical studies on anaesthetic and cytostatic drug metabolism and interactions are emphasized, as well as clinically relevant perioperative alterations that may affect anaesthetic management in cancer patients. An anaesthetist may have to modify a routine anaesthetic regimen in cancer patients especially if anticancer chemotherapeutics were given. Clinically silent toxic drug effects may become apparent during operation, trauma or in the early postoperative course in such patients. Altered reactions to commonly used anaesthetics in patients receiving chemotherapeutics and an impaired stress reaction may occur in such patients. Special attention must be drawn to protection against opportunistic infections.

Perioperative hypertension in phaeochromocytoma patients undergoing adrenalectomy

This study was designed to compare perioperative blood pressure (BP) management in hypertensive patients with phaeochromocytoma undergoing preoperative α-blockade and in patients with other suprarenal gland tumors. Perioperative hemodynamic data and immediate postoperative outcome in two groups undergoing adrenalectomy were compared. 483 medical charts from urologic patients with tumors were analyzed. In the hypertensive (n = 168) group, 20 patients with suprarenal gland tumors were identified (phaeochromocytoma n = 11, other tumors n = 9). Demographic data, intraoperative consumption of fentanyl and phentolamine, preoperative hospital stay and postoperative ICU stay were compared. Mean arterial pressure (MAP) was registered on the day before surgery, before anesthetic induction, during surgery, and upon admission in the intensive care unit (ICU). Although BP values did not differ significantly on the day before anesthesia, before induction and during operation, significantly more antihypertensive drugs were used for BP regulation in phaeochromocytoma patients versus the other tumor group. The phaeochromocytoma group required significantly more fentanyl during surgery (370±87 vs. 242±35 µg; p = 0.04). MAP upon ICU admission was significantly lower (85.1 vs. 97.4, p = 0.02) after adrenalectomy in phaeochromocytoma patients versus the other tumor group. The postoperative MAP decreased significantly in the phaeochromocytoma group (21.51 mmHg, p = 0.005), whereas significant differences according to preoperative values were not observed in the other tumor group (5.5 mmHg, p = 0.416). Prolonged preoperative hospital stay (24.6 vs. 10.0 days, p = 0.005) and ICU stay were registered in the phaeochromocytoma group. Pheochromocytoma patients had more pronounced perioperative BP oscillations, needed more antihypertensive drugs, analgesics and required prolonged hospital stay than patients with other adrenal tumors. Prolonged α-blockade may have contributed to these effects.