Patients who quit smoking for surgery tend to have an easier time kicking the habit for good, according to Mayo Clinic researchers.

Surgical patients who are non-smokers, or who stop smoking prior to surgery, tend to have safer anaesthesia and fare better in the recovery period than smokers, states the Mayo release.

Smokers who quit around the time of surgery may have fewer problems with nicotine withdrawal after the operation than they would have if they had tried to quit at other times. This may be due to medications and therapies commonly used during surgery and recovery, which may suppress nicotine withdrawal symptoms, the researchers said.

"For people who have thought about quitting smoking, the time of their surgery is a good opportunity to do so," said lead author David O. Warner, a Mayo Clinic anaesthesiologist.