Effects of Anesthetic Technique on Immune and Inflammatory Systems Following Radical Prostatectomy
Status:
Completed
Trial end date:
2012-03-01
Target enrollment:
Participant gender:
Summary
Several recently published retrospective studies show that regional anaesthesia (RA) can
reduce cancer-related mortality following surgical treatment of colorectal, breast and
prostate cancers and malignant melanoma. If these results are true, then the choice of
perioperative pain management is as beneficial, or even better, than the current oncological
therapies. This theory needs to be investigated in a prospective, randomized and controlled
trail. We shall perform a prospective, randomized study comparing the effects of Thoracic
epidural analgesia (TEA) or patient controlled analgesia (PCA) on postoperative immunological
and inflammatory markers in order to understand whether the protective effects, if any, of
regional analgesia are due to changes in these markers or whether the underlying mechanisms
is not mediated via this stress signalling pathway.