Association of anesthesia technique for radical prostatectomy with biochemical recurrence: a retrospective cohort study.

INTRODUCTION: Anesthesia technique has been associated with cancer outcomes after radical prostatectomy (RP). These studies are limited by variability in surgeon experience, bias in patient selection, and in some cases, sample size. We evaluated the impact of anesthesia technique for RP on biochemical recurrence (BCR) using a large cohort of patients operated on by a single experienced surgeon. METHODS: We retrospectively reviewed data from a prospective institutional oncologic database on 929 patients treated with RP by a single surgeon from 1999-2008. Spinal anesthesia was used for patients from 2002-2006. We compared outcomes of these patients (n = 264) with outcomes of patients who underwent general anesthesia (n = 665) at Memorial Sloan-Kettering Cancer Center from 1999-2001 and 2006-2008. Cox proportional hazards regression was used to assess differences in BCR rates between the anesthesia groups adjusting for differences in postoperative factors related to anesthetic technique and tumour pathologic characteristics associated with BCR after RP. RESULTS: Median follow-up among patients free from BCR was 4.6 yr. On multivariable analysis, spinal anesthesia did not independently predict the rate of BCR (hazard ratio = 1.10; 95% confidence interval 0.7 to 1.74; P = 0.7). Independent predictors of BCR were preoperative prostate-specific antigen (PSA), pathologic Gleason grade, extracapsular extension, and seminal vesicle invasion. CONCLUSIONS: We did not find an association between anesthesia technique and disease recurrence in men with prostate cancer treated with RP. Anesthesia technique is unlikely to alter disease recurrence following RP independent of surgical and pathological factors.

Choroidal infarction following ophthalmic artery chemotherapy.

BACKGROUND: Methylenetetrahydrofolate reductase (MTHFR) genetic mutations and intra-procedural inhaled nitrous oxide (N2O) independently increase blood levels of homocysteine, a compound associated with thrombosis. Patients with MTHFR mutations who also receive N2O during ophthalmic artery chemotherapy (OAC) for retinoblastoma may have a heightened thrombotic risk. CASE PRESENTATIONS: Single-center retrospective review of pediatric patients with advanced retinoblastoma who received OAC and developed choroidal infarcts. Four retinoblastoma patients with advanced intraocular disease (2 males, 2 females: 13-58 months) experienced choroidal infarcts within the one-month period after OAC, in which procedural N2O induction was used (duration between 21 and 58 min). All 4 patients had MTHFR (chromosome 1p, position 36.22) genetic abnormalities: one was homozygous for the C677T mutation, one was C677T heterozygous, one was A1298C heterozygous, and one was heterozygous for both C677T and A1298C. In all 4 patients, indirect ophthalmoscopy and fundus photography showed marked disturbance of the retinal pigment epithelium and optical coherence tomography (OCT) confirmed thinning of the choroid. Follow-up time ranged from 15 to 46 months (median 21 months). CONCLUSIONS: Choroidal infarction in eyes treated with OAC developed in children who were both deficient in at least one working allele of the MTHFR gene (heterozygous or homozygous) and received N2O induction during OAC.

Intravenous injection of indocyanine green results in an artificial transient desaturation by pulse oximetry.

PURPOSE: To describe a case series of transient oxygen desaturation measured by pulse oximetry during the intravenous infusion of indocyanine green to enhance transpupillary thermotherapy in treating retinoblastoma after ophthalmic artery chemosurgery. METHODS: Retrospective descriptive case series. RESULTS: The intravenous administration of indocyanine green for ophthalmic angiography resulted in a transient drop in oxygen saturation as measured by Nellcor fingertip pulse oximetry in three children with retinoblastoma receiving indocyanine green-guided transpupillary thermotherapy. The magnitude of reduction ranged from 92% to 94% from an initial reading of 99% to 100% in each case, with an average duration of 3 minutes. Concurrent measurement of blood pressure, pulse, and expired CO2 showed no changes during this process. CONCLUSION: Administration of intravenous indocyanine green resulted in a transient desaturation by oximetry during transpupillary thermotherapy for children with retinoblastoma under anesthesia because of the fluorescent dye's absorption of red light in a manner similar to that of deoxygenated hemoglobin, thereby leading to transient instrument misinterpretation and miscalculation of arterial oxygenation.