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Dexmedetomidine-Esketamine Combination and Sleep Disturbances After Major Noncardiac Surgery

Effect of Dexmedetomidine-esketamine Combination on Sleep Disturbances After Major Noncardiac Surgery: a Single-center, Randomised, Double-blind, Placebo-controlled Trial

Status
Recruiting
Phases
Phase 4
Study type
Interventional
Source
ClinicalTrials.gov
Registry ID
NCT06859892
Enrollment
476
Registered
2025-03-05
Start date
2025-03-18
Completion date
2026-12-31
Last updated
2025-03-19

For informational purposes only — not medical advice. Sourced from public registries and may not reflect the latest updates. Terms

Conditions

Adults, Dexmedetomidine, Esketamine, Major Noncardiac Surgery, Postoperative Sleep Disturbances

Keywords

adults, major noncardiac surgery, dexmedetomidine, esketamine, postoperative sleep disturbances

Brief summary

Sleep disturbances are common early after major surgery, and are associated with delayed recovery. A previous study showed that dexmedetomidine-esketamine combination as a supplement to patient-controlled intravenous analgesia improved postoperative analgesia and subjective sleep quality in patients after scoliosis correction surgery. The purpose of this trial is to test the hypothesis that dexmedetomidine-esketamine combination used as a supplement during general anesthesia and postoperative intravenous analgesia may reduce sleep disturbances in adult after major noncardiac surgery.

Detailed description

Sleep disturbances after surgery is usually manifested as sleep deprivation, altered circadian rhythm, and disturbed sleep structure. The reported incidence of sleep disturbances was 31.4% after gynecologic surgery, 31.9% after urologic surgery, and 35.9% after spine surgery. The occurrence of sleep disturbances is associated with worse perioperative outcomes, including aggravated pain intensity, increased delirium, higher risk of cardiovascular events, and delayed hospital discharge. Dexmedetomidine is a high-specific alpha 2-adrenergic agonist with anxiolytic, sedative, and analgesic effects. When used during general anesthesia and for postoperative analgesia, dexmedetomidine is associated with improved analgesia and sleep quality. The effect of dexmedetomidine is dose-dependent. However, even commonly used dosage increases bradycardia and hypotension. Ketamine is a non-competitive N-methyl-D-aspartate (NMDA) receptor antagonist. Esketamine is the S-enantiomer of racemic ketamine with a higher affinity for NMDA receptors and is approximately twice as potent as racemic ketamine in analgesia. When used during general anesthesia and for postoperative analgesia, esketamine improves analgesia and reduces opioid consumption, but psychiatric symptoms may occur. The sedative effect of dexmedetomidine is helpful to relieve psychiatric side effects of ketamine/esketamine. A previous study showed that dexmedetomidine-esketamine combination as a supplement to patient-controlled intravenous analgesia improved postoperative analgesia and subjective sleep quality in patients after scoliosis correction surgery. This trial is designed to test the hypothesis that dexmedetomidine-esketamine combination used as a supplement during general anesthesia and postoperative intravenous analgesia may reduce sleep disturbances in adult after major noncardiac surgery.

Interventions

Dexmedetomidine 0.4 μg/kg and esketamine 0.2 mg/kg is infused over 10 minutes before anesthesia induction. Dexmedetomidine 0.20 μg/kg/h and esketamine 0.10 mg/kg/h is then infused until 60 minutes before the expected end of surgery. Patient-controlled intravenous analgesia is established with 100 μg dexmedetomidine, 50 mg esketamine, and 100 μg sufentanil, diluted to 100 mL with normal saline, and programmed to deliver 2-mL boluses with a lock-out interval of 8 minutes and background infusion rate at 1 mL/h for up to 72 hours after surgery.

DRUGPlacebo

Placebo (normal saline) is administered in the same rate and volume as that in the dexmedetomidine-esketamine group. Patient-controlled intravenous analgesia is established with 100 μg sufentanil, diluted to 100 mL with normal saline, and programmed to deliver 2-mL boluses with a lock-out interval of 8 minutes and background infusion rate at 1 mL/h for up to 72 hours after surgery.

Sponsors

Peking University First Hospital
Lead SponsorOTHER

Study design

Allocation
RANDOMIZED
Intervention model
PARALLEL
Primary purpose
PREVENTION
Masking
QUADRUPLE (Subject, Caregiver, Investigator, Outcomes Assessor)

Eligibility

Sex/Gender
ALL
Age
18 Years to No maximum
Healthy volunteers
No

Inclusion criteria

1. Aged ≥18 years. 2. Scheduled for major noncardiac surgery (≥60 minutes) under general anesthesia with an expected end of surgery no later than 18:00 pm. 3. Required patient-controlled intravenous analgesia after surgery.

Exclusion criteria

1. Emergency surgery, transurethral surgery, organ transplantation. 2. Pregnant or lactating women. 3. Patients who need hypnotics for sleep disturbance or antidepressants for depression prior to surgery. 4. History of schizophrenia, epilepsy, Parkinson's disease, or myasthenia gravis. 5. Inability to communicate due to coma, severe dementia, or speech disorders, endured hypoxic encephalopathy or traumatic brain injury, or after neurosurgery. 6. Comorbid with hyperthyroidism and pheochromocytoma. 7. Preoperative left ventricular ejection fraction \<30%, sick sinus syndrome, severe sinus bradycardia (heart rate \<50 beats/min), atrioventricular block of degree II or higher without pacemaker implantation, or systolic blood pressure below 90 mmHg despite use of vasopressors. 8. Diagnosed as sleep apnea, or judged to be at high risk of moderate-to-severe sleep apnea as assessed by STOP-Bang. 9. Severe hepatic dysfunction (Child-Pugh class C), severe renal dysfunction (on dialysis), or ASA classification ≥IV. 10. Hypersensitive to dexmedetomidine and/or esketamine. 11. Other conditions that are deemed unsuitable for study participation.

Design outcomes

Primary

MeasureTime frameDescription
Incidence of sleep disturbances within 3 days after surgeryUp to 3 days after surgerySleep disturbances are defined as Richards-Campbell Sleep Questionnaire (RCSQ) score below 50, based on assessments conducted daily between 8:00 am and 10:00 am during postoperative days 1 to 3.

Secondary

MeasureTime frameDescription
Quality of recovery at 24 hours after surgeryAt 24 hours after surgeryQuality of recovery is assessed using the Quality of Recovery-15 (QoR-15) scale at 24 hours after surgery. The total QoR-15 scores are evaluated based on physical comfort (five items), emotional state (four items), psychological support (two items), physical independence (two items), and pain (two items) for QoR-15 questionnaire. Each item is scored from 0 to 10, and the possible total score ranges from 0 to 150, with higher scores representing better recovery quality after operation.
Subjective sleep quality in the first 3 nights after surgery.Up to 3 days after surgery.Subjective sleep quality is assessed daily (8:00 am to 10:00 am) using the Richards-Campbell Sleep Questionnaire (RCSQ) during the first 3 postoperative days. Richards-Campbell Sleep Questionnaire (RCSQ) comprises five items: sleep depth, sleep latency, awakenings, returning to sleep, and sleep quality. Each item is assessed with a 100-mm visual analog scale. The scores range from 0, indicating the worst possible sleep, to 100, indicating the best possible sleep. The total RCSQ sleep score is derived by summing up the individual scores on the five sleep items and dividing it by 5.
Pain intensity both at rest and with movement during the first 3 postoperative daysUp to 3 days after surgeryPain intensity is assessed with the numeric rating scale (NRS; an 11-point scale where 0=no pain and 10=the worst pain) twice daily (8:00 am to 10:00 am, and 18:00 pm to 20:00 pm) both at rest and with movement during the first 3 postoperative days.
Anxiety and depression on the third day after surgeryOn the third day after surgeryPostoperative anxiety and depression are assessed using the Hospital Anxiety and Depression Scale (HADS), with scores categorized as follows: 0-7 (negative), 8-10 (mild), 11-14 (moderate), and 15-21 (severe).
Subjective sleep quality on the 30th day after surgeryOn the 30th day after surgerySubjective sleep quality is assessed with the Pittsburgh Sleep Quality Index (PSQI) on the 30th postoperative day.

Other

MeasureTime frameDescription
Incidence of postoperative complicationsUp to 30 days after surgeryPostoperative complications are defined as new onset conditions that are deemed harmful and and require therapeutic intervention, i.e., class II or above on the Clavien-Dindo classification.
Time to extubation after surgeryOn the day of surgeryTime interval from end of surgery to extubation.
All-cause 30-day mortalityUp to 30 days after surgeryAll-cause death within 30 days after surgery.
Incidence of emergence agitation after surgeryUp to 2 hours after extubationEmergence agitation was defined as a Richmond Agitation-Sedation Scale (RASS) score ≥ +2 at any time point from tracheal extubation to discharge from the post-anesthesia care unit (PACU)
Cumulative opioid consumption within 48 hours after surgeryWithin 48 hours after surgeryCumulative opioid consumption from end of surgery to 48 hours after surgery.
Proportion of patients requiring rescue analgesia within 48 hours after surgeryWithin 48 hours after surgeryRescue analgesia indicates any analgesics in addition to patient-controlled intravenous analgesia.
Length of hospital stay after surgeryUp to 30 days after surgery.Time interval from end of surgery to hospital discharge.
Agitation and sedation levels during the first 3 postoperative daysUp to 3 days after surgeryAgitation and sedation levels are assessed using the Richmond Agitation-Sedation Scale (RASS) twice daily (8:00 am to 10:00 am, and 18:00 pm -20:00) during the first 3 postoperative days.

Countries

China

Contacts

Primary ContactMo Li, MD, PhD
2361011139@pku.edu.cn+86 19801260665

Outcome results

None listed

Source: ClinicalTrials.gov · Data processed: Feb 4, 2026