Regional Anesthesia Versus General Anesthesia on Circulating Tumor Cells (CTC)

Inclusion Criteria:

Male and female subjects should be over 18 years of age and capable of providing informed consent indicating awareness of the investigational nature of this trial, in keeping with institutional policy
Written informed consent must be obtained from each subject prior to entering the study
Subjects with primary non-metastatic AJCC stages I, II or III, scheduled to undergo either unilateral mastectomy with or without Sentinel lymph node biopsy or axillary dissection, or unilateral lumpectomy with Sentinel lymph node biopsy or axillary lymph node dissection
Able to stay overnight in the hospital post surgery

Exclusion Criteria:

Any subject younger than 18 years or older than 85 years of age
History of previous breast surgery (aside from biopsy), planned breast conserving operation (isolated lumpectomy) or reconstruction (rectus or latissimus flap)
American Society of Anesthesia (ASA) classification of 4 or greater, or any contraindication to having regional anesthesia
Any subjects who receives an intraoperative or postoperative blood transfusion during the period of venous blood sampling
Subjects who are pregnant. Exclusion of the possibility of pregnancy by testing (urine HCG) or by history (tubal ligation, hysterectomy, or menopause) is required prior to inclusion in the study
Subjects with active infectious process at the site of proposed paravertebral injection
Subjects with significant allergy to local anesthetics
Subjects who convert from RA to GA during surgery