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CLINICAL TRIAL article
Front. Pharmacol.
Sec. Obstetric and Pediatric Pharmacology
Volume 16 - 2025 | doi: 10.3389/fphar.2025.1579633
Effects of esketamine-sufentanil for patient-controlled intravenous analgesia in women following cesarean section: A Randomized Clinical Trial
Provisionally accepted- Women and Children’s Hospital of Jiaxing University, Jiaxing, China
Background: Postoperative pain following cesarean section can cause maternal anxiety, limited ambulation, and even postpartum depression. This study aimed to investigate the effects of esketamine for postoperative patient-controlled intravenous analgesia in women following cesarean section.Methods: One hundred women were randomly assigned to two groups. The esketamine group received 1 mg⸱kg -1 ⸱d -1 of esketamine + 1 µg⸱kg -1 ⸱d -1 of sufentanil for intravenous postoperative analgesia, and the control group received 1 µg⸱kg -1 ⸱d -1 of sufentanil for intravenous analgesia. Primary outcome was the pain intensity during the postoperative 24 h, and it was assessed using a visual analog scale (VAS). Secondary outcomes included hemodynamic parameters, total consumption of analgesics, blood loss and drug-related side effects (hypotension, hypertension, bradycardia, nausea and vomiting).The VAS scores at rest were lower in the esketamine group than those in the control group from the postoperative 6 hours to 24 hours (P < 0.05), and the VAS scores at cough in the esketamine group were lower from the postoperative 4 hours to 24 hours (P< 0.05). There were significant differences at blood loss during the postoperative 24 h (137.6 ±33.0 vs. 159.6 ±41.3 ml, P = 0.004). Blood pressure and heart rate were greater in the esketamine group than those in the control group during the postoperative 8 hours to 24 hours (P<0.05). The incidence of nausea and vomiting was significantly lower in the esketamine group than the control group (4% vs.18%, P = 0.025) Conclusions This study indicated that esketamine not only improved post-operative pain, it but also reduced the postpartum blood loss and the incidence of nausea and vomiting in women undergoing cesarean section (registration number: ChiCTR2400082094).
Keywords: Esketamine, Sufentanil, Cesarean Section, Postoperative analgesia, Nausea and vomiting
Received: 19 Feb 2025; Accepted: 24 Mar 2025.
Copyright: © 2025 Zhao, Liu, Hou and Jiaming. This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (CC BY). The use, distribution or reproduction in other forums is permitted, provided the original author(s) or licensor are credited and that the original publication in this journal is cited, in accordance with accepted academic practice. No use, distribution or reproduction is permitted which does not comply with these terms.
* Correspondence:
Yi Hou, Women and Children’s Hospital of Jiaxing University, Jiaxing, China
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