Abstract
BACKGROUND: The potential benefits of anaesthesia techniques in the parameters of cellular immunity and prevention of metastasis in various types of cancer are attracting increasing attention.
 OBJECTIVE: Our aim was to estimate the influence of the epidural blockade as a component of the anesthesia support on the immunity indexes in the patients operated for gastric cancer.
 MATERIALS AND METHODS: 89 patients operated on for gastric cancer, divided into two groups were investigated: in the 1st group (n=27) there was general anesthesia (GA) in combination with extended epidural blockade; in the 2nd group (n=24) GA with postoperative intravenous administration of analgesics. T-cell counts (CD3+, CD4+ CD8+, CD4+/CD8+) and cytokines (IL-4, IL-6, IL-10, INF-y and TNF-a) were determined.
 RESULTS: The CD3+ T-cell levels in both groups were significantly (р 0.05) reduced immediately after surgery. On the 2nd and 3rd day the decrease in CD3+ T-cells was more pronounced (р 0.05) in the 2nd group compared to the 1st group. The content of CD4+ T-cells decreased by the 1st day of the postoperative period (р 0,05) but then gradually increased, the CD4+ level in the 1st group was significantly (р 0.05) higher than in the 2nd group. The changes of CD8+ content between the studied groups were not statistically significant. The immunoregulatory index in both groups decreased by1st day (р 0.05). On the 9th day the index in the 1st group returned to the basic values, while in the 2nd group it remained significantly lower. On the 1st and 3rd day, the levels of IL-4 and IL-6 significantly (р 0.05) increased, while in the 2nd group the levels were higher than in the 1st group (р 0.05). On the 9th day IL-4 and IL-6 indices returned to their initial values. The changes of IL-10 level had a similar pattern, while in the 1st group the rate was significantly higher (р 0.05). At all stages of investigation, the level of IFN- was significantly (р 0.05) higher in the 2nd group, the level of TNF- was higher in the 1st group (р 0.05).
 CONCLUSION: The use of postoperative epidural analgesia during gastric resection for malignant neoplasm is associated with a less suppressive effect on the content of subpopulations of T-lymphocytes and cytokines in comparison with intravenous administration of analgesics and may contribute to the activation of antitumor immune response. Prospective long-term studies are needed to evaluate physician epidural analgesia for oncological outcomes after surgery for gastric cancer.
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