Bladder cancers have high recurrence rates and are usually removed via
transurethral resection of bladder tumor (TURBT). Recently, some reports showed that the
anesthetic method may affect the recurrence rates of
bladder cancers. The purpose of this population-based study was to compare the effect of
anesthetic methods with the recurrence rates of
bladder cancers in South Korea. A total of 4439 patients were reviewed retrospectively using the data of the Korean National Health Insurance (NHI) claims database from January 2007 to December 2011. Patients were divided into 2 groups who received general (n = 3767) and
regional anesthesia (n = 582), and were followed up until September 2017. Propensity score matching was conducted to reduce the effect of confounding factors. After using propensity score matching with a multivariable Cox regression model, age (p < 0.001), sex (p < 0.001),
hypertension (p = 0.003),
diabetes mellitus (p = 0.001), and renal disease (p < 0.001) were significantly associated with
bladder cancer recurrence. However, there were no significant differences in the recurrence rates of
bladder cancers in patients who received
general anesthesia and
spinal anesthesia for TURBTs. This study revealed that there is no relationship between the
anesthetic method and
bladder cancer recurrence. Either
general anesthesia or
regional anesthesia can be used depending on the situation in patients receiving TURBT. Future prospective studies are warranted to confirm the association between the
anesthetic method and the recurrence rates of
bladder cancer.