Worldwide increase in incidence of cancer has led to increase in interventional cancer surgeries. Onco-anaesthesia is a bit different from anaesthesia for routine surgeries as it requires additional knowledge of the effects of ongoing chemotherapy and radiotherapy on various organ systems of the body. Onco-anaesthesia is an emerging branch and various researches are going on to see the effect of various anaesthetic and analgesic drugs on promotion or inhibition of growth of carcinoma cells. It has also been studied if change in anaesthetic techniques or drugs can affect cancer specefic survival and overall survival of cancer patients. Covid-19 pandemic further added to challenges faced by anaesthesiologist and surgeons. It not only puts anaesthesiologist and health-care workers at potential risk of acquiring the covid-19 infection but it also leads to increased postoperative morbidity and mortality in covid-19 survived patients. As most of the healthcare workers are engaged in covid management, the scarcity of doctors and other healthcare providers is also cause of concern as it compromises patient care and management.
This review summarizes the major challenges that cancer patients present to the anaesthesiologists especially during times of ongoing covid-19 pandemic.
Impact Factor
2022: 6.012
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