Boosting the Immune System of Surgical Cancer Patients

This book highlights that, although surgical removal of primary tumors remains the most effective and potentially curative treatment for solid cancers, surgery can impair the body’s natural defenses. Nociceptive stimulation triggers a stress response that weakens anticancer immunity, while tumor manipulation may release circulating tumor cells, contributing to metastasis and recurrence. Surgical inflammation further promotes cytokine and vascular growth factor production, supporting oncogenesis. Thus, despite its benefits, surgery is inherently immunosuppressive, and many cancer patients already have compromised immunity due to neoadjuvant therapies, anemia, transfusions, or malnutrition. While recent advances emphasize preserving and enhancing immune function to improve postoperative outcomes, no current volume comprehensively addresses perioperative immunosuppressive factors or offers practical guidance for clinicians. The book is organized into five sections: general principles; preoperative, intraoperative, and postoperative management; and future research in onco-anesthesiology. Each section outlines immunosuppressive mechanisms and their management, including pharmacological and non-pharmacological strategies to strengthen immune function, enhance anticancer responses during surgery, and complement standard therapies. It also highlights future directions in onco-anesthesiology and onco-immunology. Addressing a critical gap, this volume provides a comprehensive handbook on perioperative immunodepression and surgical stress—topics often overlooked in existing texts. It offers clinicians actionable strategies for immune support and researchers guidance for advancing the field. Designed for trainees and practitioners in anesthesia, oncology, immunology, and surgery, it is an essential resource for cancer care and research.