Tropical Journal of Pharmaceutical Research

Original Research Article | OPEN ACCESS

Effect of two types of anesthesia on postoperative recovery of patients with gastric cancer and changes in the levels of their T lymphocyte subsets

Li Xin¹, Yang Dan², Chen Yan¹, Shen Jiang¹, Hong Tao¹

¹Department of Anesthesiology, Changzhou First People's Hospital; ²Department of Radiation Oncology, Changzhou Fourth People's Hospital, Changzhou, China.

For correspondence:- Hong Tao Email: ft1310@163.com

Accepted: 17 January 2019 Published: 28 February 2019

Citation: Xin L, Dan Y, Yan C, Jiang S, Tao H. Effect of two types of anesthesia on postoperative recovery of patients with gastric cancer and changes in the levels of their T lymphocyte subsets. Trop J Pharm Res 2019; 18(2):429-433 doi: 10.4314/tjpr.v18i2.30

© 2019 The authors.
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Abstract

Purpose: To investigate the effects of two types of anesthesia on postoperative recovery of patients with gastric cancer (GC), and to assess changes in the levels of their T lymphocyte subsets.

Methods: Patients with GC (200 cases) were randomly assigned to two groups of 100 patients each: general anesthesia (GA) group and GA + epidural anesthesia (GAEP) group. Fasting venous blood samples (2 mL) were collected from the patients before anesthesia, and at different time-points: zero time (T0), 1 h (T1), day 1 (T2), and day 3 (T3) after surgery. CD3+, CD4+, CD8+T, and regulatory T cells (Tregs) were determined using a flow cytometer.

Results: Percent CD3+, CD4+, CD8+T, and ratio of CD4+ to CD8+ in both groups at 1 h and day 1 after operation were significantly lower than their values before anesthesia (p < 0.05). There were significant differences in CD3+ and CD4+ levels between the two groups on day 3 (p < 0.05). Percent peripheral CD4+ CD25+T, and ratio of CD4+ CD25+ to CD4+ in both groups also significantly increased at 1 h and day 1 after operation, while percent peripheral CD4+, CD25+T and CD4+ CD25+ to CD4+ ratio in GAEP group on day 1 after operation were significantly lower than those of GA group (p < 0.05).

Conclusion: These results suggest that combination of general and epidural anesthesia partly controls the expressions of Tregs, thereby enhancing postoperative recovery of GC patients.

Keywords: Gastric cancer, T-lymphocyte subsets, Regulatory T-lymphocytes, Epidural, Anesthesia