A landmark multi-center study on breast cancer presented at the ongoing European Society of Medical Oncology (ESMO) Congress in Paris showed that administration of commonly used anesthesia around the tumor on the operating table before the surgery can save up to 100,000 lives globally every year. The study, "Effect of Peri-tumoural Infiltration of Local Anesthetic Prior to Surgery on Survival in Early Breast Cancer," is a randomized controlled trial, conceived and designed by Dr. Rajendra Badwe, Director of Tata Memorial Centre. The study was conducted by investigators at 11 cancer centers in India, including Tata Memorial Centre in Mumbai, over 11 years between 2011 and 2022.

In his presentation in Paris, Dr. Badwe commented that for scientists, the study opened the window of peri-operative intervention to modulate the environment of cancer in such a way as to prevent its deleterious reaction to the act of surgery [observation]. Dr. Sudeep Gupta, Professor, Medical Oncology, TMC and Director, ACTREC, stated that the study provided an inexpensive and immediately implementable treatment for breast cancer that can be done by every surgeon who treats this disease. The study included 1600 women with early breast cancer who were scheduled to be treated with surgery. Half of these patients constituted the control group who received standard surgery followed by standard postoperative treatment including chemotherapy, hormone therapy, and radiotherapy as per guidelines. The other half, constituting the intervention group, were administered with an injection of a commonly used local anesthesia agent, i.e., 0.5% lidocaine, all around the tumor, just before surgery. 

The interventional group then underwent standard surgery followed by the same post-operative treatment as was given in the control group. The results of the extended period of follow-up showed that the cure rate was 81.7% in the control group and 86.1% in the local anesthesia group, respectively. Also, a reduction of 26 % in cancer-related risk, relapse, or death with the local anesthesia injection was observed, which was a statistically significant finding. Similarly, the overall 6-year survival rate was reported as 86.2% in the placebo group versus 89.9% in the intervention group, respectively. 

(Source: https://health.economictimes.indiatimes.com/news/industry/anaesthesia-administration-prior-to-breast-cancer-surgery-can-improve-survival-rate-tmc-study/94177597 )