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Impact of Esketamine on Delayed Neurocognitive Recovery in Older Patients

Impact of Esketamine on Delayed Neurocognitive Recovery in Older Patients Undergoing Non-cardiac Surgery: a Two-center, Dose-exploring Pilot Trial

Status
Not yet recruiting
Phases
Phase 4
Study type
Interventional
Source
ClinicalTrials.gov
Registry ID
NCT07523334
Enrollment
120
Registered
2026-04-13
Start date
2026-04-01
Completion date
2026-12-01
Last updated
2026-04-14

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

Conditions

Delayed Neurocognitive Recovery, Elderly, Esketamine, Noncardiac Surgery, Postoperative Delirium

Keywords

Older patients, Noncardiac surgery, Delayed neurocognitive recovery, Postoperative delirium, Esketamine

Brief summary

Esketamine is frequently used during the perioperative period for supplemental analgesia. Small sample size trials showed that subanesthetic dose esketamine may decrease postoperative neurocognitive complications. However, conflicting results exist and optimal dose of esketamine remains to be determined. This dose-exploring pilot trial is designed to evaluate the safety and efficacy of three different perioperative esketamine dosing regimens in older patients undergoing major non-cardiac surgery. The primary purpose is to explore the optimal dosing strategy that produce maximal neurocognitive benefits with minimal adverse neuropsychiatric symptoms.

Detailed description

Postoperative neurocognitive complications including delirium and delayed neurocognitive recovery are common in older patients after major surgery and associated with worse early and long-term outcomes. Risk factors of neurocognitive complications are multiple. Predisposing factors include older age, low education, and cognitive decline. Precipitating factors include major surgery, high dose opioids, severe pain, and sleep disturbances. The underlying mechanisms are not totally clear but may include surgery-related stress response and inflammation. Ketamine is a noncompetitive N-Methyl-D-aspartic acid (NMDA) receptor antagonist and has been used as an anesthetic and analgesic for decades. Esketamine is the S-enantiomer of ketamine and has an analgesic potent of approximately 2 times of that of ketamine. Available studies showed that subanesthetic dose ketamine/esketamine may reduce delirium and/or delayed neurocognitive recovery. However, conflicting results exist. Furthermore, even subanesthetic dose ketamine/esketamine may produce neuropsychiatric symptoms which are harmful for neurocognitive recovery. This dose-exploring pilot trial is designed to evaluate the safety and efficacy of three different perioperative esketamine dosing regimens in older patients undergoing major non-cardiac surgery. The primary purpose is to explore the optimal dosing strategy that produce maximal neurocognitive benefits with minimal adverse neuropsychiatric symptoms.

Interventions

DRUGEsketamine 1

During anesthesia, a loading dose esketamine (0.5 mg/ml) 0.4 ml/kg will be infused over 30 minutes (0.1 mg/kg) after anesthesia induction, followed by a continuous infusion at 0.1 ml/kg/h (0.05 mg/kg/h) until 1 hour before the expected end of surgery. After surgery, patient-controlled intravenous analgesia will be established with esketamine (0.25 mg/ml) and sufentanil (1 ug/ml), programmed to deliver 2-ml bolus (0.5 mg esketamine) with a 8-10-minute lock-out time and a 1-ml/h (0.25 mg/h esketamine) background infusion, and used for up to 48 hours.

DRUGEsketamine 2

During anesthesia, a loading dose esketamine (1.0 mg/ml) 0.4 ml/kg will be infused over 30 minutes (0.2 mg/kg) after anesthesia induction, followed by a continuous infusion at 0.1 ml/kg/h (0.1 mg/kg/h) until 1 hour before the expected end of surgery. After surgery, patient-controlled intravenous analgesia will be established with esketamine (0.5 mg/ml) and sufentanil (1 ug/ml), programmed to deliver 2-ml bolus (1 mg esketamine) with a 8-10-minute lock-out time and a 1-ml/h (0.5 mg/h esketamine) background infusion, and used for up to 48 hours.

DRUGEsketamine 3

During anesthesia, a loading dose esketamine (1.5 mg/ml) 0.4 ml/kg will be infused over 30 minutes (0.3 mg/kg) after anesthesia induction, followed by a continuous infusion at 0.1 ml/kg/h (0.15 mg/kg/h) until 1 hour before the expected end of surgery. After surgery, patient-controlled intravenous analgesia will be established with esketamine (0.75 mg/ml) and sufentanil (1 ug/ml), programmed to deliver 2-ml bolus (1.5 mg esketamine) with a 8-10-minute lock-out time and a 1-ml/h (0.75 mg/h esketamine) background infusion, and used for up to 48 hours.

DRUGNormal saline

During anesthesia, a loading dose placebo (normal saline) 0.4 ml/kg will be infused over 30 minutes after anesthesia induction, followed by a continuous infusion at 0.1 ml/kg/h until 1 hour before the expected end of surgery. After surgery, patient-controlled intravenous analgesia will be established with sufentanil (1 ug/ml), programmed to deliver 2-ml bolus with a 8-10-minute lock-out time and a 1-ml/h background infusion, and used for up to 48 hours.

Sponsors

Peking University First Hospital
Lead SponsorOTHER
Tianjin Medical University General Hospital
CollaboratorOTHER

Study design

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

Eligibility

Sex/Gender
ALL
Age
65 Years to 90 Years
Healthy volunteers
Yes

Inclusion criteria

1. Aged \>=65 but \<= 90 years; 2. Scheduled to undergo non-cardiac surgery with an expected duration of \>= 2 hours under general anesthesia; 3. Requiring patient-controlled intravenous analgesia (PCIA) after surgery.

Exclusion criteria

1. Unable to communicate preoperatively due to visual or auditory impairment, language barrier, or severe dementia; 2. Comorbid with schizophrenia, epilepsy, Parkinson's disease, or myasthenia gravis; 3. Traumatic brain injury or neurosurgery; 4. Severe hepatic dysfunction (Child-Pugh Class C), severe renal dysfunction (receiving dialysis preoperatively), or American Society of Anesthesiologists physical status classification \>= Ⅳ; 5. Expected admission to the Intensive Care Unit with endotracheal intubation after surgery; 6. Anaphylaxis to esketamine; 7. Participation in other clinical studies, or any other conditions that are considered unsuitable to be involved in the study.

Design outcomes

Primary

MeasureTime frameDescription
Incidence of dissociative symptomsUp to 4 days after surgeryDissociative symptoms will be assessed at 30 minutes after extubation and then twice daily (8:00-10:00, 18:00-20:00) during the first 4 days after surgery, using the 6-item Clinician Administered Dissociative State Scale (CADSS-6; scores range frrom 0 to 24 with higher scores indicating more severe dissociative symptoms; a score \>=3 indicates presence of dissociative symptoms).

Secondary

MeasureTime frameDescription
Incidence of emergence deliriumAt 30 minutes after extubationEmergence delirium will be assessed at 30 minutes after extubation, during stay in the postanesthesia care unit, using the Confusion Assessment Methods for the Intensive Care Unit (CAM-ICU).
Incidence of postoperative deliriumUp to 4 days after surgeryPostoperative delirium will be assessed twice daily (8:00-10:00, 18:00-20:00) during the first 4 days after surgery, using the 3-Minute Diagnostic Interview for the Confusion Assessment Method (3D-CAM) for non-intubated patients or the Confusion Assessment Methods for the Intensive Care Unit (CAM-ICU) for intubated patients.
Incidence of delayed neurocognitive recoveryUp to 5 days after surgeryCognitive function will be assessed with the Montreal Cognitive Assessment (MoCA; scores range from 0 to 30, with higher scores indicating better function) at baseline and on the 5th day/before hospital discharge after surgery. Delayed neurocognitive recovery is defined as \|Z\| score of MoCA decline \>=1.96. Z score = (MoCA change of patients - MoCA change of normal control)/standard deviation of MoCA change of normal control.

Countries

China

Contacts

CONTACTDong-Xin Wang, MD, PhD
wangdongxin@hotmail.com+86 13910731903
CONTACTJia-Hui Ma, PhD
mjh@bjmu.edu.cn
PRINCIPAL_INVESTIGATORDong-Xin Wang, MD, PhD

Peking University First Hospital

Outcome results

None listed

Source: ClinicalTrials.gov · Data processed: Apr 15, 2026