Effect of Intravenous Intraoperative Esmolol on Pain Management Following Lower Limb Orthopedic Surgery

• Published in: The Korean journal of pain 2015, 28(3), , pp.198-202
• Main Authors: Haghighi, Mohammad, Sedighinejad, Abbas, Mirbolook, Ahmadreza, Naderi Nabi, Bahram, Farahmand, Maral, Kazemnezhad Leili, Ehsan, Shirvani, Masoumeh, Khajeh Jahromi, Sina
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Subjects: Original; 마취과학
• ISSN: 2005-9159; 2093-0569
• DOI: 10.3344/kjp.2015.28.3.198

Lack of proper control of acute postoperative pain often leads to lingering or chronic pain. Several studies have emphasized the role of beta-blockers in reducing postoperative pain. Esmolol is a selective short-acting beta-blocker that produces few side effects. The purpose of this study was to examine the effect of intravenous intraoperative esmolol on postoperative pain reduction following orthopedic leg fracture surgery. In a clinical trial, 82 patients between 20-65 years of age with tibia fractures and American Society of Anesthesiologists (ASA) physical status I & II who underwent surgery were divided into two groups. Group A received esmolol and group B received normal saline. Postoperative pain was measured at three time points: entering the recovery unit, and at 3 h and 6 h following surgery, using the Visual Analogue Scale (VAS). A P value of < 0.05 was considered significant. Mean VAS scores at all three time points were significantly different between the two test groups (P = 0.02, P = 0.0001, and P = 0.0001, respectively). The consumption of pethidine was lower in group A than in group B (P = 0.004) and the duration of its effect was significantly longer in time (P = 0.026). Intravenous intraoperative esmolol is effective in the reduction of postoperative pain following leg fracture surgery. It reduced opioid consumption following surgery and delayed patient requests for analgesics.