Whole-Course Application of Dexmedetomidine Combined with Ketorolac in Nonnarcotic Postoperative Analgesia for Patients with Lung Cancer Undergoing Thoracoscopic Surgery: A Randomized Control Trial.

BACKGROUND: Opioid-based postoperative analgesia provides adequate analgesia with much adverse effects and immunosuppression. Dexmedetomidine and ketorolac have properties of opioid-sparing, antiinflammation, and immune protection. OBJECTIVES: To investigate the efficacy and safety of whole-course application of dexmedetomidine combined with ketorolac in nonnarcotic postoperative analgesia and its effect on inflammatory response and immune function in thoracoscopic surgery of lung cancer. STUDY DESIGN: Double-blind, randomized control trial. SETTING: The First Affiliated Hospital of Dalian Medical University, Dalian, Liaoning, China. METHODS: Sixty patients scheduled for thoracoscopic surgery were enrolled and randomly divided into 2 groups to receive a combination of intraoperative usage of dexmedetomidine and postoperative patient-controlled intravenous analgesia of dexmedetomidine 0.1 microg/kg/h and ketorolac 3 mg/kg (DEX group) or only postoperative patient-controlled intravenous analgesia of sufentanil 1.5 microg/kg and ketorolac 3 mg/kg (SUF group) for 48 hours. Vital signs, postoperative Visual Analog Scale (VAS) score, Ramsay sedation score, patient-controlled analgesia pressing times, consumption of sufentanil and rescue drug, and complications were compared between the 2 groups. The levels of inflammatory factors and immune function were also compared. RESULTS: A significant reduction in median blood pressures and heart rates within 48 hours after surgery and perioperative consumption of sufentanil were observed in the DEX group compared with the SUF group (P 0.05). The incidence of nausea was significantly lower in the DEX group compared with the SUF group (P 0.05). LIMITATIONS: This study was limited by its sample size. CONCLUSIONS: Whole-course application of dexmedetomidine combined with ketorolac in nonnarcotic postoperative analgesia provided adequate and safe postoperative analgesia, reduced sufentanil consumption, analgesia-related complications, alleviated inflammatory response, and immunosuppression compared with sufentanil-based analgesia in thoracoscopic surgery. KEY WORDS: Dexmedetomidine, ketorolac, sufentanil, thoracoscopic surgery, postoperative analgesic, patient-controlled analgesia, inflammatory response, immune function.