Potential influence of anaesthesia techniques on the recurrence and progression after resection of nonmuscle invasive bladder cancer: a propensity score-matched analysis

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Background: Nonmuscle invasive bladder cancer is a common malignancy of the urinary system. Many patients relapse after transurethral resection surgery. Different anaesthesia techniques may influence a patient’s immune system during the perioperative time. Here, we studied the effects of different anaesthesia techniques on the prognosis of primary nonmuscle invasive bladder cancer after transurethral resection surgery. Methods: From 2008 to 2017, a total of 926 patients suffered primary nonmuscle invasive bladder and accepted transurethral resection of bladder tumour surgery for the first time. They were divided into two groups based on the techniques that were used. The general anaesthesia group contained 662 patients, who received propofol, opioid drugs (fentanyl family), non-depolarizing muscle relaxants, and sevoflurane, and the epidural anaesthesia group contained 264 patients, who had an epidural catheter placed in the L2-L3 or L3-L4 interspace with a combination of lidocaine and ropivacaine or bupivacaine. We studied the influence factors that could affect prognosis and compared the recurrence-free survival time and the progression of the two groups.Results: The differences between the two groups in recurrence rate and progression rate were not statistically significant. Progression-free survival time of epidural anaesthesia group was longer. Multivariate regression analysis showed that anaesthesia techniques were not independent influencing factors for recurrence and progression. Conclusions: In this study, it was not found that anaesthesia techniques could influence the recurrence or progression of patients with primary nonmuscle invasive bladder cancer after transurethral resection of bladder tumour.