Anesthesia and colorectal cancer – The perioperative period as a window of opportunity?

Gastrointestinal malignancies largely contribute to cancer related deaths in the United States, with colorectal cancer representing the 3rd place of the ten leading entities of mortality due to cancer for both females and males. The majority of patients with GI tumors has to undergo surgery (either as a curative or palliative intervention) and are therefore also in need for a proper general and/or regional anesthesia. Recent findings have suggested that the type of anesthesia administered might have an impact on cancer recurrence and metastasis and thus this new field in the anesthesia world has become a largely studied topic. This review highlights current concepts and summarizes the evidence for an impact of the type of anesthesia on patient outcome after cancer surgery, suggesting the perioperative period might be a “window of opportunity” which should not be missed.