Effect of Dexmedetomidine Combined with Epidural Anesthesia on Stress Responses and Postoperative Complications in Patients Undergoing Thoracoscopic Radical Resection of Lung Cancer

Abstract

Purpose: To investigate the effect of dexmedetomidine combined with epidural anesthesia on stress responses and postoperative complications in patients undergoing thoracoscopic radical resection of lung cancer. Methods: A total of 100 patients who underwent radical resection of pulmonary carcinoma in our hospital between February 2019 and July 2020 were selected and randomly divided into control group (n=50) and experimental group (n=50), and their clinical data were retrospectively analyzed. Among them, the control group patients received epidural anesthesia, while the patients in the experimental group were treated with dexmedetomidine combined with epidural anesthesia. After that, the anesthesia onset time, duration of analgesia, postoperative waking time, SDSS cognitive function score, VAS pain score, incidence of stress response, postoperative complication rate, postoperative expression levels of inflammatory factors, as well as blood pressure before surgery (TO), 1 h during surgery (T1), 1 h after surgery (T2), and 2 h after surgery (T3) were compared between the two groups. Results: The anesthesia onset time, SDSS cognitive function score, VAS pain score, incidence of stress response, postoperative complication rate and postoperative expression levels of inflammatory factors in the experimental group were all significantly lower than those in the control group, with statistical significance (P < 0.05); the duration of analgesia and postoperative waking time in the experimental group were significantly longer than those in the control group, with statistical significance (P < 0.05); there was no statistical significance in the comparison of the blood pressure at TO, T1, T2 and T3 between the two groups (P > 0.05). Conclusion: The application of dexmedetomidine combined with epidural anesthesia for the patients undergoing thoracoscopic radical resection of lung cancer can significantly reduce complication rate after surgery, improve analgesic effect and relieve stress responses in patients.