[The perioperative period in cancer surgery: a critical moment! Is there a role for regional anesthesia in preventing cancer recurrence?].

Surgical treatment of cancer is usually necessary but it can paradoxically aggravate the patient outcome by increasing the risk of recurrence. Many perioperative factors have been shown to contribute to the dissemination of the tumor: surgery itself, stress, inflammation, pain, anaesthetic drugs, blood transfusion, etc. The type of anaesthesia chosen in the cancer patient could then be crucial and influence the evolution of the disease. Experimental, preclinical and retrospective studies have suggested that a regional anesthesia associated or not with a general anesthesia for carcinologic surgery might reduce the risk of cancer recurrence. This text reviews the factors promoting the recurrence of tumors after carcinologic surgery and the potential possibilities of protection associated with the type of anaesthesia chosen.