ESAIC- EURO-PERISCOPE Research Group in Onco-Anaesthesia

Euro-Periscope Research Group is a network of researchers with an interest in the effect of anaesthesia on perioperative outcomes in cancer patients. This network of researchers emerged from COST Action 15204 (2016-2021)¹ with the same name, EURO-PERISCOPE. The action was an EU-funded network of mainly, but not exclusively, anaesthesiologists and surgeons, nurses and other researchers, with interest and actively engaged in perioperative care of the cancer patient. It was initiated and chaired by Prof Donal Buggy (Mater University Hospital, Dublin, Ireland) who was, otherwise, the first chair and is now honorary chair of Euro-Periscope group. The RG is now chaired by Prof Daniela Ionescu (Cluj-Napoca, Romania) and vice-chair is Dr Oscar Diaz Cambonero (La Fe, Spain). 

Both CA15204 and Euro-Periscope group focused on the research question: ‘Can anaesthetic, analgesic or perioperative interventions during cancer surgery influence risk of recurrence?”  

Initially, CA15204 collaborative network involved >120 participants in 22 European and Neighbour nations as well as RC of ESAIC. Project was a very stimulating and successful one, allowing networking, research initiatives, scientific mobilities and meetings around EU (Dublin, Brussels, Cluj-Napoca, Dubrovnik, Valencia). The project ended in 2021 when ESAIC Euro-Periscope RG will take over where the EU network ended, at least for the anaesthesiologists and affiliated scientists.  

The newly borne RG aims at advocating for perioperative care of cancer patients, because complex cancer surgery for increasingly frail patients requires increasingly specialised care, at promoting research and quality improvement initiatives in perioperative management of cancer patients, focused not only on improving long term oncologic outcomes, but also on short term outcomes (e.g. QoR-15, Days at Home at 30 days, reduced 30-day complications, RIOT) that may, also, enhance longer term overall outcomes and, last but not least at promoting networking in research in anaesthesia and cancer between anaesthesiologists and other researchers/professionals in this field (surgeons, oncologists) from different countries from EU and around the world. Geographical diversity and gender equity as well as stimulating young researchers to join are values of the group. 

At present, ESA-IC endorsed European Platform for Research Outcomes after Perioperative Interventions for Surgery for Cancer (Euro-Periscope) as a Research Group (RG) includes 30 members (an increasingly number each year) from 16 countries mostly from all EU regions and also from USA with research and publications in the field^2–23. Well-known researchers and specialists are members of the group together with young researchers to ensure continuity of research and initiatives in this field of onco-anaesthesia. Anaesthesiologists, surgeons, biologists, researchers are members of the group ensuring an interdisciplinary and translational approach of the research initiatives on the effect of anaesthetic techniques/interventions as well as of immunosuppressive perioperative factors on the outcome of cancer patient undergoing surgery²⁴. 

The RG is an active one on different levels. This includes but is not limited to around 30 publications each year on the topic of onco-anaesthesia (the number is increasing each year)^2-23, group meetings, collaborative projects²⁴, as well as individual or group research projects, scientific sessions at Euroanaesthesia, ASA and other international meetings, chapters/books.  

In conclusion, Euro-Periscope RG is the story of a successful COST Action project run by University College Dublin and ESAIC, together with partner institutions continued with an RG. This promotes scientific research and cooperation in onco-anaesthesia in a multidisciplinary translational approach while also aiming to form young researchers in the EU and worldwide. 

Authors

• Daniela Ionescu
• Alexandru Alexa 

References: 

1. Action CA15204 – COST 
2. Murphy O, Forget P, Ma D, Buggy DJ. Tumour excisional surgery, anaesthetic-analgesic techniques, and oncologic outcomes: a narrative review. Br J Anaesth. 2023 Dec;131(6):989-1001.  
3. Murphy L, Shaker J, Buggy DJ. Anaesthetic Techniques and Strategies: Do They Influence Oncological Outcomes? Curr Oncol. 2023 May 26;30(6):5309-5321.  
4. Mincer JS, Buggy DJ. Anaesthesia, analgesia, and cancer outcomes: time to think like oncologists? Br J Anaesth. 2023 Aug;131(2):193-196.  
5. Benstead K, Brandl A, Brouwers T, Civera J, Collen S, Csaba DL, De Munter J, Dewitte M, Diez de Los Rios C, Dodlek N, Eriksen JG, Forget P, et al. An inter-specialty cancer training programme curriculum for Europe. Eur J Surg Oncol. 2023 Sep;49(9):106989 
6. Bugada D, Drotar M, Finazzi S, Real G, Lorini LF, Forget P. Opioid-Free Anesthesia and Postoperative Outcomes in Cancer Surgery: A Systematic Review. Cancers (Basel). 2022 Dec 22;15(1):64.  
7. Alexa A, Ciocan A, Zaharie F, Valean D, Sargarovschi S, Breazu C, Al Hajjar N, Ionescu D. The Influence of Intravenous Lidocaine Infusion on Postoperative Outcome and Neutrophil-to-Lymphocyte Ratio in Colorectal Cancer Patients. A Pilot Study. JGLD 2023;32(2):156-61 
8. Alexa AL, Jurj A, Tomuleasa C, Tigu AB, Hategan RM, Ionescu D. The Effect of Different Anesthetic Techniques on Proliferation, Apoptosis, and Gene Expression in Colon Cancer Cells: A Pilot In Vitro Study. Curr. Issues Mol. Biol. 2023;45:738-751. 
9. Iwasaki M, Zhao H, Hu C, Saito J, Wu L, Sherwin A, Ishikawa M, Sakamoto A, Buggy D, Ma D. The differential cancer growth associated with anaesthetics in a cancer xenograft model of mice: mechanisms and implications of postoperative cancer recurrence. Cell Biol Toxicol. 2023 Aug;39(4):1561-1575.  
10. Ponferrada AR, Romero Molina S, Ruiz JCM, Josefa GM, Guerrero Orriach JL. Anesthesia and Cancer: Something More than Avoiding Stress Response. Curr Gene Ther. 2023;23(4):261-275.  
11. Bell M, Buggy DJ, Brattström D, Buchli C, Debouche S, Granath F, Riedel B, Gupta A. The effects of anaesthesia and analgesia on short- and long-term outcomes following colorectal cancer surgery: Protocol for an international, pragmatic, cohort study (ENCORE∗). Eur J Anaesthesiol Intensive Care. 2024 Apr 26;3(3):e0051.  
12. Belltall A, Mazzinari G, Ní Eochagáin A, Wall T, Serpa Neto A, Diaz-Cambronero O, Sessler D, Buggy DJ, Cata J, Hollmann MW. Assessing the relative efficacy of components of opioid-free anaesthesia in adult surgical patients: protocol for a systematic review and component network meta-analysis. BMJ Open. 2024 Oct 29;14(10):e089024. 
13. Bezu L, Rahmani LS, Buggy DJ. The effect of the type of anaesthesia on long-term outcomes after cancer resection surgery: a narrative review. Anaesthesia. 2025 Feb;80(2):179-187. 
14. Ramly MS, Buggy DJ. Anesthetic techniques and cancer outcomes: what is the current evidence? Anesth Analg. 2024 Oct 4. doi: 10.1213/ANE.0000000000007183.  
15. Enlund M, Hållberg H, Berglund A, Sherif A, Enlund A, Bergkvist L. Long-term survival after volatile or propofol general anesthesia for bladder cancer surgery: a retrospective national registry cohort study. Anesthesiology 2024;140:1126-1133 
16. Smulders PSH, Heikamp K, Hermanides J, Hollmann MW, Ten Hoope W, Weber NC. Chemotherapy-induced peripheral neuropathy models constructed from human induced pluripotent stem cells and directly converted cells: a systematic review. Pain. 2024 Sep 1;165(9):1914-1925. 
17. Pedoto A, Fischer GW, Mincer JS. The current (and possible future) role of opioid analgesia in lung cancer surgery. Best Pract Res Clin Anesthesiol 2024; 38(1): 74-80. 
18. Mincer JS, Buggy DJ. Anaesthesia, analgesia, and cancer outcomes: time to think like oncologists? Br J Anaesth. 2023 Aug;131(2):193-196. 
19. Gupta HV, Tan KS, Fischer GW, Mincer JS. Towards a precision approach to anesthetic/analgesic immunomodulation in cancer. Front. Anesthesiol 2024. 3:1464004. 
20. Gottumukkala V, Gan TJ. Anesthesiology and perioperative care of the cancer patient: enhancing lives and improving outcomes. Anesth Analg. 2025 Apr 1;140(4):747-751. 
21. Guerra-Londono CE, Uribe-Marquez S, Shah R, Gottumukkala V. The increasing global burden of cancer: implications for anaesthesia and peri-operative medicine. Anaesthesia. 2025; 80(Suppl 2):3–11.  
22. Hasselager RP, Hallas J, Gögenur I. Inhalation anaesthesia compared with total intravenous anaesthesia and postoperative complications in colorectal cancer surgery: an observational registry-based study^†. Br J Anaesth. 2022 Sep;129(3):416-426. 
23. Santek N, Langer S, Kirac I, Velemir Vrdoljak D, Tometic G, Musteric G, Mayer L, Cigrovski Berkovic M. Difference Between Walking Parameters During 6 Min Walk Test Before and After Abdominal Surgery in Colorectal Cancer Patients. Cancers. 2025; 17(11):1782. 
24. Bezu L, Akçal Öksüz D, Bell M, Buggy D, Diaz-Cambronero O, Enlund M, Forget P, Gupta A, Hollmann MW, Ionescu D, Kirac I, Ma D, Mokini Z, Piegeler T, Pranzitelli G, Smith L, The EuroPeriscope Group. Perioperative Immunosuppressive Factors during Cancer Surgery: An Updated Review. Cancers (Basel). 2024 Jun 22;16(13):2304.