Retrospective Study
Copyright ©The Author(s) 2025. Published by Baishideng Publishing Group Inc. All rights reserved.
World J Gastrointest Surg. Mar 27, 2025; 17(3): 99597
Published online Mar 27, 2025. doi: 10.4240/wjgs.v17.i3.99597
Analgesic effect and safety of dexmedetomidine-assisted intravenous-inhalation combined general anesthesia in laparoscopic minimally invasive inguinal hernia surgery
Qian-Xing Lou, Ke-Ping Xu
Qian-Xing Lou, Department of Anesthesiology, Yiwu Central Hospital, Yiwu 322000, Zhejiang Province, China
Ke-Ping Xu, Department of Anesthesia, Zhuji Traditional Chinese Medicine Hospital of Zhejiang Province, Shaoxing 311800, Zhejiang Province, China
Author contributions: Lou QX and Xu KP contributed to conception, design, data analysis, and manuscript drafting and editing; Lou QX and Xu KP contributed to collection, assembly of data and revised the manuscript; Lou QX and Xu KP contributed to conception, resources, and manuscript review and editing; all authors have read and approved the final manuscript.
Institutional review board statement: This study was approved by the Ethic Committee of Yiwu Central Hospital.
Informed consent statement: Patients were not required to give informed consent to the study because the analysis used anonymous clinical data that were obtained after each patient agreed to treatment by written consent.
Conflict-of-interest statement: All the authors report no relevant conflicts of interest for this article.
Data sharing statement: sharing statement: No additional data are available.
Open Access: This article is an open-access article that was selected by an in-house editor and fully peer-reviewed by external reviewers. It is distributed in accordance with the Creative Commons Attribution NonCommercial (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: https://creativecommons.org/Licenses/by-nc/4.0/
Corresponding author: Ke-Ping Xu, Department of Anesthesia, Zhuji Traditional Chinese Medicine Hospital of Zhejiang Province, No. 521 East 2nd Road, Huandong Street, Shaoxing 311800, Zhejiang Province, China. xkp18767533987@163.com
Received: November 21, 2024
Revised: January 2, 2025
Accepted: January 20, 2025
Published online: March 27, 2025
Processing time: 94 Days and 19 Hours
Abstract
BACKGROUND

Currently, very few studies have examined the analgesic effectiveness and safety of dexmedetomidine-assisted intravenous-inhalation combined general anesthesia in laparoscopic minimally invasive surgery for inguinal hernia.

AIM

To investigate the analgesic effect and safety of dexmedetomidine-assisted intravenous-inhalation combined general anesthesia in laparoscopic minimally invasive surgery for inguinal hernia.

METHODS

In this retrospective study, 94 patients scheduled for laparoscopic minimally invasive surgery for inguinal hernia, admitted to Yiwu Central Hospital between May 2022 and May 2023, were divided into a control group (inhalation combined general anesthesia) and a treatment group (dexmedetomidine-assisted intravenous-inhalation combined general anesthesia). Perioperative indicators, analgesic effect, preoperative and postoperative 24-hours blood pressure (BP) and heart rate (HR), stress indicators, immune function levels, and adverse reactions were compared between the two groups.

RESULTS

Baseline data, including age, hernia location, place of residence, weight, monthly income, education level, and underlying diseases, were not significantly different between the two groups, indicating comparability (P > 0.05). No significant difference was found in operation time and anesthesia time between the two groups (P > 0.05). However, the treatment group exhibited a shorter postoperative urinary catheter removal time and hospital stay than the control group (P < 0.05). Preoperatively, no significant differences were found in the visual analog scale (VAS) scores between the two groups (P > 0.05). However, at 12, 18, and 24 hours postoperatively, the treatment group had significantly lower VAS scores than the control group (P < 0.05). Although no significant differences in preoperative hemodynamic indicators were found between the two groups (P > 0.05), both groups experienced some extent of changes in postoperative HR, diastolic BP (DBP), and systolic BP (SBP). Nevertheless, the treatment group showed smaller changes in HR, DBP, and SBP than the control group (P < 0.05). Preoperative immune function indicators showed no significant differences between the two groups (P > 0.05). However, postoperatively, the treatment group demonstrated higher levels of CD3+, CD4+, and CD4+/CD8+ and lower levels of CD8+ than the control group (P < 0.05). The rates of adverse reactions were 6.38% and 23.40% in the treatment and control groups, respectively, revealing a significant difference (χ2 = 5.371, P = 0.020).

CONCLUSION

Dexmedetomidine-assisted intravenous-inhalation combined general anesthesia can promote early recovery of patients undergoing laparoscopic minimally invasive surgery for inguinal hernia. It ensures stable blood flow, improves postoperative analgesic effects, reduces postoperative pain intensity, alleviates stress response, improves immune function, facilitates anesthesia recovery, and enhances safety.

Keywords: Dexmedetomidine; Intravenous-inhalation combined general anesthesia; Inguinal hernia; Laparoscopic minimally invasive surgery; Analgesia; Safety

Core Tip: This study aimed to assess the analgesic effect and safety of dexmedetomidine-assisted intravenous-inhalation combined general anesthesia in laparoscopic minimally invasive surgery for inguinal hernia through systematic clinical observation and analysis. The study enrolled a total of 94 patients with inguinal hernia who were scheduled to undergo laparoscopic minimally invasive surgery. Comparative analyses were performed on the clinical outcomes between inhalation anesthesia combined with general anesthesia and dexmedetomidine-assisted intravenous-inhalation combined general anesthesia in these patients. The results revealed that dexmedetomidine-assisted intravenous-inhalation combined general anesthesia can facilitate the early recovery of patients undergoing laparoscopic minimally invasive surgery for inguinal hernia, ensure hemodynamic stability, enhance postoperative analgesic effects, alleviate stress response, and improve immune function while exhibiting a certain safety level.