Effect of different doses of esketamine compared with fentanyl combined with propofol on hypotension in patients undergoing painless abortion surgery: a prospective, randomized, double-blind controlled clinical trial

BACKGROUND: Opioids analgesics commonly used in abortion procedures are associated with respiratory and circulatory depression. Esketamine is a N-methyl-D-aspartate receptor (NMDA) antagonist and a common analgesic. The drug has several advantages including rapid onset and offset and it causes minimal cardiorespiratory depression. However, studies have not explored the effects of esketamine in patients undergoing painless abortion surgery. Therefore, the present study sought to evaluate the effect of different doses of esketamine compared with the effect of fentanyl on incidence of perioperative hypotension in patients undergoing painless abortion surgery and to explore the optimal esketamine dose for this population. METHODS: A total of 178 female patients undergoing painless abortion surgery were enrolled to the current study. The patients were aged 18–45 years, had a body mass index (BMI) of 18–28 kg m(− 2) and a class I or II physical status as determined using the American Society of Anesthesiologists (ASA) system. Patients were randomly assigned to four groups as follows: group F (n = 45) in which patients underwent intravenous (IV) administration of 1 μg kg(− 1) fentanyl followed by IV administration of 2 mg kg(− 1) propofol, and group EL, group EM and group EH (n = 45, 44, 44) with patients receiving IV administration of 0.2 mg kg(− 1), 0.25 mg kg(− 1), 0.3 mg kg(− 1) esketamine, respectively, followed by IV administration of 2 mg kg(− 1) propofol. The primary outcome of the study was the incidence of hypotension whereas secondary outcomes included incidence of adverse events, perioperative changes of vital signs, anesthesia induction time, recovery time and dischargeable time, propofol addition, as well as patient, surgeon and anesthesiologist satisfaction levels. RESULTS: The findings showed that the incidence of hypotension was significantly lower in subjects in group EL, group EM and group EH (0, 0, 0%) relative to the incidence in patients in group F (20%) (χ(2) = 19.648; P = 0.000). In this study, the incidence of hypoxia of subjects in group EL, group EM and group EH (0, 2.3, 2.3%) was significantly lower compared with that of patients in group F (11.1%) (χ(2) = 8.622; P = 0.035). The findings indicated that the incidence of somatic motor reactions was significantly lower in participants in group EM and group EH (9.1, 4.5%) relative to that of patients in group F and group EL (26.7, 15.6%) (χ(2) = 10.254; P = 0.016). The results showed that the incidence of nausea and vomiting and potential psychiatric symptoms were significantly higher in patients in group EH (15.9, 11.4%) compared with that of participants in group F (2.2, 0%), group EL (4.4, 0%) and group EM (2.3, 2.3%) (χ(2) = 7.493; P = 0.038 and χ(2) = 8.248; P = 0.003). In this study, the mean arterial pressure (MAP) and heart rate (HR) of subjects in group EL, group EM and group EH were more stable compared with that of patients in group F. Frequency of the additional propofol dose was markedly less in group EM and EH (26.7%, 17,8%) compared with that in group F and EL (9.1, 4.5%) (χ(2) = 10.254; P = 0.016). The findings indicated that the dischargeable time was significantly shorter for patients in group EM compared with that of subjects in group F, group EL and group EH. CONCLUSIONS: The findings of the present study showed that single-dose esketamine (0.25 mg kg(− 1)) effectively decreased incidence of hypotension and total adverse events and reduced the frequency of additional propofol dose required for patients undergoing painless abortion with preservation of physician-patient satisfaction.