Relationship between Volatile Anesthetics and Tumor Progression: Unveiling the Mystery

A series of factors can be involved in the perioperative period to cause an increase in cancer-related mortality. Unfortunately, volatile anesthesia might aggravate the deleterious effects. In this article, we review the association of diverse volatile anesthetic agents with immune system and cancer cell biology, and examine the effects on angeogenesis and postoperative metastasis or recurrence. Isoflurane, haloflurane and enflurane enhance immunosuppression and upregulate hypoxia-inducible-factor 1 and matrix metalloproteinases, leading to the cancer malignant progression, whereas roles of desflurane and sevoflurane are still unclear. As the effects of volatile anesthetics on tumor immunity have been known, it will be beneficial for using selective drugs into anesthesia and operation in cancer patients.