Curative breast cancer surgery with local anesthesia

Abstract

Breast cancer has become an important health problem affecting especially women and its incidence is increasing. It is treated with a multidisciplinary approach involving medical oncology, radiation oncology and surgical oncology. Surgical removal of the tumor is the most important step in its treatment. General anesthesia used during surgery carries significant risks in patient groups with advanced age and comorbidities. In addition, treatment options such as chemotherapy and radiotherapy other than surgery may have significant side effects in these patient groups. Therefore, surgery plays an important role in the treatment of patients. Surgery with local anesthesia is a suitable alternative to general anesthesia in patients with early stage breast cancer because it carries less risk. Breast cancer was diagnosed in a 64-year-old woman who presented with a mass in the right breast. In the anesthesia examination, she was evaluated as ASA 3 because of her comorbidities and age. We present our patient with high comorbidity and advanced age who underwent curative cancer surgery using only local anesthesia.