Study raises concerns over anaesthetic’s possible link to cancer recurrence

The commonly-used general anaesthetic isoflurane increases cancer cells' potential to grow and migrate, a laboratory study has found. Cancer often recurs after surgery, despite the best efforts of surgeons and doctors. Some studies have suggested that choice of anaesthetic might influence the chance of recurrence, but why has remained a mystery. Scientists studying isoflurane's effects on human cancer cells in the lab found that it made the cells grow and move faster. These are both hallmarks of malignancy, which means a tumour is capable of spreading around the body. The researchers are unsure if the anaesthetic has this effect in cancer patients, but if future studies show this is the case, it would suggest that isoflurane should not be used in cancer surgery. The finding also has implications for medical research, since isoflurane is used to anaesthetise mice in cancer studies, and may affect the results of such work.