Clinical Trials Study
Copyright ©The Author(s) 2017. Published by Baishideng Publishing Group Inc. All rights reserved.
World J Gastroenterol. Nov 28, 2017; 23(44): 7875-7880
Published online Nov 28, 2017. doi: 10.3748/wjg.v23.i44.7875
Role of combined propofol and sufentanil anesthesia in endoscopic injection sclerotherapy for esophageal varices
Yang Yu, Sheng-Lin Qi, Yong Zhang
Yang Yu, Department of Anesthesiology, the Sixth People’s Hospital of Dalian, Dalian 116000, Liaoning Province, China
Sheng-Lin Qi, Endoscopy Center, the Sixth People’s Hospital of Dalian, Dalian 116000, Liaoning Province, China
Yong Zhang, President Office, the Sixth People’s Hospital of Dalian, Dalian 116000, Liaoning Province, China
Author contributions: Yu Y and Zhang Y designed research; Yu Y and Qi SL performed research and analyzed data; Yu Y wrote paper.
Institutional review board statement: The study was reviewed and approved by the The Sixth People’s Hospital of Dalian, Dalian, China.
Informed consent statement: All study participants, or their legal guardian, provided informed written consent prior to study enrollment.
Conflict-of-interest statement: Not declared.
Data sharing statement: No additional data are available.
Open-Access: This article is an open-access article which was selected by an in-house editor and fully peer-reviewed by external reviewers. It is distributed in accordance with the Creative Commons Attribution Non Commercial (CC BY-NC 4.0) license, which permits others to distribute, remix, adapt, build upon this work non-commercially, and license their derivative works on different terms, provided the original work is properly cited and the use is non-commercial. See: http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0/
Correspondence to: Yong Zhang, MD, President Office, the Sixth People’s Hospital, No. 269, Huibai Road, Dalian 116000, Liaoning Province, China. zhangyong_dldr@163.com
Telephone: +86-13842880969 Fax: +86-411-39728555
Received: August 19, 2017
Peer-review started: August 19, 2017
First decision: August 29, 2017
Revised: September 4, 2017
Accepted: September 13, 2017
Article in press: September 13, 2017
Published online: November 28, 2017
Processing time: 99 Days and 21.4 Hours
ARTICLE HIGHLIGHTS
Research background

Propofol is widely used during painless endoscopy because of its rapid onset and rapid recovery properties. Intravenous injection of propofol during endoscopic esophageal varices therapy can reduce the complications associated with poor patient cooperation. Because of complications related to bleeding during endoscopic variceal ligation and endoscopic injection sclerotherapy, endotracheal intubation is essential for these procedures. However, due to its weak analgesic effect, intraoperative pain stimulation is greater, leading to overt physical movements, and thus affecting the operation. Since analgesics are often required to ensure a successful operation, in this study, authors used a combination of sufentanil and propofol injection for the endoscopic treatment of esophageal varices.

Research motivation

In the present study, propofol was administered in combination with sufentanil to patients who underwent EIS for esophageal varices. The combination was found to facilitate safe and successful completion of the EIS procedure.

Research objectives

To investigate the efficacy and safety of a combination of sufentanil and propofol injection in patients undergoing endoscopic injection sclerotherapy for esophageal varices (EVs).

Research methods

Patients with severe EVs who underwent EIS with sufentanil and propofol anesthesia between April 2016 and July 2016 were reviewed. Although at them hospital and sequential therapy were performed under endotracheal intubation, the authors only evaluated the efficacy and safety of anesthesia for the first EIS procedure. Patients were intravenously treated with 0.5-1 μg/kg sufentanil. Anesthesia was induced with 1-2 mg/kg propofol and maintained using 2-5 mg/kg propofol per hour. Information regarding age, sex, weight, American Association of Anesthesiologists (ASA) physical status, Child-Turcotte-Pugh (CTP) classification, indications, preanesthetic problems, endoscopic procedure, successful completion of the procedure, anesthesia time, recovery time, and anesthetic agents was recorded. Adverse events, including hypotension, hypertension, bradycardia, and hypoxia, were also noted.

Research results

Propofol and sufentanil anesthesia was provided in 182 procedures involving 140 men and 42 women aged 56.1 ± 11.7 years (range, 25-83 years). The patients weighed 71.4 ± 10.7 kg (range, 45-95 kg) and had ASA physical status classifications of II (79 patients) or III (103 patients). Ninety-five patients had a CTP classification of A and 87 had a CTP classification of B. Intravenous anesthesia was successful in all cases. The mean anesthesia time was 33.1 ± 5.8 min. The mean recovery time was 12.3 ± 3.7 min. Hypotension occurred in 2 patients (1.1%, 2/182). No patient showed hypertension during the endoscopic therapy procedure. Bradycardia occurred in 1 patient (0.5%, 1/182), and hypoxia occurred in 1 patient (0.5%, 1/182). All complications were easily treated with no adverse sequelae. In addition, all endoscopic procedures were completed successfully.

Research conclusions

The use of propofol and sufentanil injection in endotracheal intubation-assisted EIS for EVs is effective and safe.