Impact of propofol on gastrointestinal cancer outcomes: A review of cellular behavior, growth, and metastasis

Table 3 A summary of the clinical studies

Ref.	Cancer type	Compared anesthetics/study type	Results
Wu et al[127], 2018	Colon	Propofol vs desflurane/retrospective cohort	Propofol anesthesia is associated with better overall survival, less local recurrence, less postoperative metastasis
Zhang et al[128], 2022	Digestive tract	Propofol vs volatile anesthetics (isoflurane, desflurane, sevoflurane)/retrospective cohort	The selection of anesthetic agents does not affect survival and postoperative complication(s)
Hasselager et al[129], 2022	Colorectal	Propofol vs sevoflurane/retrospective cohort	No difference regarding medical complications; better rates of surgical complications for the sevoflurane group
Kagawa et al[130], 2024	Gastric	Propofol vs volatile anesthetics (isoflurane, desflurane, sevoflurane)/retrospective cohort	No significant overall survival between groups
Ma et al[131], 2023	Esophageal	Propofol vs sevoflurane/retrospective observational	No significant difference in overall survival and disease-free survival between groups
Margarit et al[132], 2014	Colorectal	Propofol vs isoflurane/randomized controlled	No significant differences between groups on plasma concentrations of IL-6 and IL-10
Xu et al[134], 2016	Colon	Propofol + thoracic epidural vs sevoflurane	A reduction in invasiveness, proliferation, and metastatic potential, as well as enhanced apoptosis of the cancer cells in propofol group
Buschmann et al[135], 2020	Colorectal	Propofol vs sevoflurane/proof-of-concept	Propofol-regulated miRNAs might mediate inhibitory effects on signaling pathways involving cell proliferation, migration, and epithelial-mesenchymal transition of tumor cell lines and enhance effects on apoptosis of carcinoma cell lines
Oh et al[136], 2022	Colorectal	Propofol vs sevoflurane/randomized controlled	The type of general anesthetics used may minimally affect perioperative immune status among numerous perioperative factors
Kim et al[137], 2021	Gastric	Propofol vs sevoflurane	Propofol is superior for the protection of endothelial glycocalyx; similar effects on endothelial glycocalyx degradation and inflammatory process
Zhang et al[138], 2024	Colorectal	Propofol vs sevoflurane/retrospective observational	Propofol exhibited superior survival outcomes among individuals with a high degree of PNI change

IL: Interleukin; miRNA: MicroRNA; PNI: Prognostic nutritional index.