Dexmedetomidine with sufentanil in intravenous patient-controlled analgesia for relief from postoperative pain, inflammation and delirium after esophageal cancer surgery.

BACKGROUND AND AIMS: Postoperative pain can cause serious adverse reactions that severely affect postoperative outcome. The present study evaluated the effect of dexmedetomidine (DEX) added to sufentanil in intravenous patient-controlled analgesia (PCA) on the relief of pain and inflammatory responses during postoperative recovery of patients undergoing a combined thoracoscopic-laparoscopic esophagectomy (TLE).

METHODS

Sixty patients undergoing TLE were randomly allocated to receive 1 μg/ml of sufentanil alone (Group S) or 1 μg/ml of sufentanil plus 2.5 μg/ml of DEX (Group D) for postoperative intravenous (IV) PCA. Postoperative pain relief, cumulative PCA requirements, inflammatory marker levels, delirium and recovery were assessed.

RESULTS

A joint DEX and sufentanil regimen significantly reduced the area under the curve of numerical rating scores for pain at rest (NRSR) and coughing (NRSC) at 1-48 h postoperatively (P = 0.000) that were associated with lower PCA-delivered cumulative sufentanil consumption and less PCA frequency until 48 h postoperatively (P < 0.05 and P < 0.0001, respectively). The simultaneous administration of DEX and sufentanil significantly reduced plasma IL-6 and TNF-α concentrations and increased IL-10 level (P < 0.0001, P = 0.0003 and P = 0.0345, respectively), accompanied by better postoperative delirium categories and health statuses of patients (P = 0.024 and P < 0.05, respectively). There was no hypotension, bradycardia, respiratory depression or oversedation in Group D.

CONCLUSION

Patients receiving DEX in addition to IV PCA sufentanil for TLE exhibited better postoperative analgesia, fewer inflammatory responses and lower postoperative delirium categories and better health statuses.