A small dose of remifentanil pretreatment suppresses sufentanil-induced cough during general anesthesia induction: a randomized, double-blind, placebo-controlled trial

BACKGROUND: Intravenous use of sufentanil can elicit cough. This study aimed to evaluate the inhibitory effect of pre-injection of a mall dose of remifentanil on sufentanil-induced cough during the induction of general anesthesia. METHODS: This prospective, randomized, controlled trial was conducted from January 10, 2019 to March 01, 2019. A total of 100 patients undergoing elective surgery under general anesthesia were enrolled, and at last 84 patients were included and randomly allocated into two equal size groups (n = 42): Patients in the Remifentanil group (R group) received an intravenous infusion of remifentanil 0.3 μg/kg (diluted to 2 ml) 1 min before sufentanil injection; patients in the Control group (C group) received 2 ml of normal saline (NS) at the same time point. Injections of patients in both groups were completed within 5 s. Then, sufentanil 0.5 μg/kg was injected within 5 s and the number of coughs that occurred within 1 min after sufentanil injection were recorded. One minute after sufentanil injection, etomidate 0.3 mg/kg and cisatracurium 0.15 mg/kg were given for general anesthesia induction irrespective of the presence or absence of cough. The mean arterial pressure (MAP) and heart rate (HR) at time points just before remifentanil pretreatment administration (T0), 3 min after administration (T1), 1 min after intubation (T2), and 3 min after intubation (T3) were recorded. RESULTS: The incidence of cough in patients in the R group and C group was 4.8 and 31%, respectively. Compared with group C, the incidence and severity of cough in group R was significantly lower (P < 0.01). No significant differences were observed in MAP and HR at the time of general anesthesia induction between the two groups (P > 0.05). CONCLUSION: Pretreatment with a small dose of remifentanil effectively and safely reduced the incidence and severity of cough induced by sufentanil during anesthesia induction and can be used as an alternative treatment to inhibit coughing caused by sufentanil. TRIAL REGISTRATION: Chinese Clinical Trial Registry (ChiCTR1900020587, registered date: January 9, 2019), http://www.chictr.org.cn ELECTRONIC SUPPLEMENTARY MATERIAL: The online version of this article (10.1186/s12871-019-0836-1) contains supplementary material, which is available to authorized users.