Different Dose Esketamine and Dexmedetomidine for Supplemental Analgesia and Longterm Outcomes

Official title

Impact of Different Dose Esketamine and Dexmedetomidine Combination for Supplemental Analgesia on Long-term Outcomes After Scoliosis Correction Surgery: Follow-up of a Randomized Trial

Overview

Chronic postsurgical pain (CPSP) refers to pain that occurs or increases after surgery and lasts longer than 3 months. Severe acute postoperative pain is one of the major risk factors of CPSP. Spinal correction surgery is associated with severe pain due to large trauma and long duration. Ketamine and esketamine are N-methyl-D-aspartate receptor antagonists; they have antihyperalgesic effects and may reduce CPSP. Dexmedetomidine is an alpha 2-adrenoceptor agonist with sedative, anxiolytic, and analgesic effect; it is frequently used as an adjuvant to postoperative analgesia. In a previous trial of 200 patients after scoliosis correction surgery, mini-dose esketamine-dexmedetomidine in combination with opioids significantly improved analgesia and sleep quality but did not reduce CPSP. The authors speculate that increasing esketamine dose in the combination may further improve analgesia and, therefore, reduce the occurrence of CPSP.

Detailed description

Chronic postsurgical pain (CPSP) refers to pain that occurs or increases after surgery and lasts longer than 3 months. Pain can be limited to the surgical area or projected to the innervated area. The incidence of CPSP is reported from 10% to 50%, with incidence of moderate-to-severe CPSP of about 11.8%. Risk factors of CPSP include severe acute postoperative pain, long duration surgery, and related nerve injury. Spinal correction surgery is associated with severe acute postoperative pain due to large trauma and long duration, with a median pain score of 7 (interquartile range, 4 to 8) on the first day after surgery. And the incidence of persistent pain is up to 75%.

Ketamine is a non-competitive N-methyl-D-aspartate (NMDA) receptor antagonists. Ketamine has anti-hyperalgesia effects and may reduce the occurrence of CPSP by blocking NMDA receptors. Esketamine is the S-enantiomer of racemic ketamine with stronger analgesic effect and less adverse reactions. In previous studies, opioid-dependent patients who received low-dose ketamine/esketamine infusion during the perioperative period had decreased pain scores and opioid requirement at 6 weeks, 6 months, and 1 year after surgery. However, results in patients without opioid dependence are controversial.

Dexmedetomidine is a highly selective α2 receptor agonist with sedative, anxiolytic, and analgesic effects. When used in the perioperative period, dexmedetomidine improves analgesia, reduces opioid consumption, and decreases opioid-related adverse reactions. Meanwhile, dexmedetomidine can prolong total sleep time, improve sleep efficiency, and increase subjective sleep quality, possibly by activating the endogenous sleep-promoting pathway. The sedative effect of dexmedetomidine may help to reduce the psychiatric adverse reactions of ketamine. However, data is lacking regarding the effect of dexmedetomidine on chronic postsurgical pain.

In a previous trial of 200 patients following scoliosis correction surgery, mini-dose esketamine-dexmedetomidine in combination with opioids significantly improved analgesia and sleep quality after surgery but did not reduce CPSP. The authors speculate that increasing esketamine dose in the combination may further improve analgesia and, therefore, reduce the occurrence of CPSP.

Interventions

• Drug Esketamine
  Different doses of esketamine in the esketamine-dexmedetomidine combination as a supplement to sufentanil for postoperative analgesia.

Primary outcome measures

• Incidence of chronic postsurgical pain at 3 months after surgery. [Time frame: At 3 months after surgery.]

Secondary outcome measures (7)

• Incidence of chronic postsurgical pain at 6 or 12 months after surgery. [Time frame: At 6 or 12 months after surgery.]
• Severity of chronic pain at 3, 6, and 12 months after surgery. [Time frame: At 3, 6, and 12 months after surgery.]
• Proportion of chronic analgesic use after surgery. [Time frame: At 3, 6, and 12 months after surgery.]
• Subjective sleep quality at 3, 6, and 12 months after surgery. [Time frame: At 3, 6, and 12 months after surgery.]
• Severity of depression at 3, 6, and 12 months after surgery. [Time frame: At 3, 6, and 12 months after surgery.]
• Quality of life at 3, 6, and 12 months after surgery. [Time frame: At 3, 6, and 12 months after surgery.]
• Event-free survival. [Time frame: Up to 12 months after surgery.]

Eligibility criteria

Inclusion criteria

• Patients aged ≥18 years and body weight≥40 kg;
• Scheduled to undergo scoliosis correction with pedicle screw fixation;
• Required patient-controlled intravenous analgesia (PCIA) after surgery.

Exclusion criteria

• Preoperative sick sinus syndrome, severe sinus bradycardia (heart rate <50 beats per minute), atrioventricular block grade II or above without pacemaker, congenital heart disease, arrhythmia, or other serious cardiovascular diseases with a New York Heart Association class ≥III;
• Patients with moderate or severe obstructive sleep apnea diagnosed preoperatively or according to the STOP-Bang score;
• History of hyperthyroidism or pheochromocytoma;
• History of schizophrenia, epilepsy, myasthenia gravis;
• Severe liver dysfunction (Child-Pugh grade C), severe renal dysfunction (preoperative dialysis), or American Society of Anaesthesiologists grade ≥IV;
• Barrier in communication;
• Other conditions that were considered unsuitable for study participation.

Criteria are shown verbatim from the registry (in English). Final eligibility is always assessed by the study center.

Healthy volunteers: No

Study design

Allocation

Randomized

Model

Parallel assignment

Masking

Quadruple blind

Primary purpose

Prevention

Study locations

China · 1 center

• Beijing University First Hospital — Beijing

Publications

• Gerbershagen HJ, Aduckathil S, van Wijck AJ, Peelen LM, Kalkman CJ, Meissner W. Pain intensity on the first day after surgery: a prospective cohort study comparing 179 surgical procedures. Anesthesiology. 2013 Apr;118(4):934-44. doi: 10.1097/ALN.0b013e31828866b3. PMID 23392233
• Hussain A, Erdek M. Interventional pain management for failed back surgery syndrome. Pain Pract. 2014 Jan;14(1):64-78. doi: 10.1111/papr.12035. Epub 2013 Feb 3. PMID 23374545
• Wylde V, Dennis J, Beswick AD, Bruce J, Eccleston C, Howells N, Peters TJ, Gooberman-Hill R. Systematic review of management of chronic pain after surgery. Br J Surg. 2017 Sep;104(10):1293-1306. doi: 10.1002/bjs.10601. Epub 2017 Jul 6. PMID 28681962
• Dunn LK, Yerra S, Fang S, Hanak MF, Leibowitz MK, Tsang S, Durieux ME, Nemergut EC, Naik BI. Incidence and Risk Factors for Chronic Postoperative Opioid Use After Major Spine Surgery: A Cross-Sectional Study With Longitudinal Outcome. Anesth Analg. 2018 Jul;127(1):247-254. doi: 10.1213/ANE.0000000000003338. PMID 29570151
• Leider HL, Dhaliwal J, Davis EJ, Kulakodlu M, Buikema AR. Healthcare costs and nonadherence among chronic opioid users. Am J Manag Care. 2011 Jan;17(1):32-40. PMID 21348566
• Schwenk ES, Viscusi ER, Buvanendran A, Hurley RW, Wasan AD, Narouze S, Bhatia A, Davis FN, Hooten WM, Cohen SP. Consensus Guidelines on the Use of Intravenous Ketamine Infusions for Acute Pain Management From the American Society of Regional Anesthesia and Pain Medicine, the American Academy of Pain Medicine, and the American Society of Anesthesiologists. Reg Anesth Pain Med. 2018 Jul;43(5):456-46 PMID 29870457
• Cohen SP, Bhatia A, Buvanendran A, Schwenk ES, Wasan AD, Hurley RW, Viscusi ER, Narouze S, Davis FN, Ritchie EC, Lubenow TR, Hooten WM. Consensus Guidelines on the Use of Intravenous Ketamine Infusions for Chronic Pain From the American Society of Regional Anesthesia and Pain Medicine, the American Academy of Pain Medicine, and the American Society of Anesthesiologists. Reg Anesth Pain Med. 2018 J PMID 29870458
• Molero P, Ramos-Quiroga JA, Martin-Santos R, Calvo-Sanchez E, Gutierrez-Rojas L, Meana JJ. Antidepressant Efficacy and Tolerability of Ketamine and Esketamine: A Critical Review. CNS Drugs. 2018 May;32(5):411-420. doi: 10.1007/s40263-018-0519-3. PMID 29736744

Identifiers

NCT: NCT06087510 · 2023-351-2

Primary sources (government registries)

• ClinicalTrials.gov (US NIH)

View this study on ClinicalTrials.gov ↗