Effect of perioperative use of parecoxib on chronic post-surgical pain in elderly patients after hepatectomy: a prospective randomized controlled study

BACKGROUND: Chronic post-surgical pain (CPSP) has a negative impact on the recovery, quality of life, and physical functioning of elderly patients. This study aimed to test the superiority of parecoxib vs. placebo in preventing chronic post-hepatectomy pain in elderly patients under combined general-epidural anesthesia. METHODS: A total of 105 elderly patients undergoing hepatectomy under combined general-epidural anesthesia were randomized into the parecoxib or placebo group. The primary outcome was the proportion of patients with CPSP 3 months postoperatively. The secondary outcomes included the Short-Form McGill Pain Questionnaire score in CPSP-positive responders, acute pain intensity, postoperative analgesic demand, inflammatory markers change, and postoperative complications within 28 days. RESULTS: The parecoxib group provided a non-significant absolute 9.1% reduction in the rate of CPSP compared to the placebo group (P = 0.34). The average chronic pain visual analog scale in the parecoxib group was lower than that in the placebo group (P = 0.04). Significantly less moderate-to-severe acute pain at rest (P = 0.04) and with coughing (P < 0.001), less patient-controlled epidural analgesia (PCEA) consumption (P = 0.01), and less rescue analgesia (P < 0.001) were observed in the parecoxib group compared to the placebo group. Furthermore, no between-group difference was observed in inflammatory markers (P > 0.05) and postoperative complications (P = 0.65). CONCLUSIONS: Parecoxib reduced the prevalence of CPSP in elderly patients after hepatectomy under combined general-epidural anesthesia from 44.4 to 35.3% with no statistical significance. Moreover, significantly alleviated CPSP intensity and improved acute pain management were observed. TRIAL REGISTRATION: This study was retrospectively registered in the Chinese Clinical Trial Registry (URL: http://www.chictr.org.cn/edit.aspx?pid=56961&htm=4) on August 3, 2020 (ChiCTR-2,000,035,198). SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: The online version contains supplementary material available at 10.1186/s40360-021-00501-1.