The Effect of Oliceridine Versus Sufentanil on the Quality of Postoperative Recovery in Patients Undergoing Laparoscopic Cholecystectomy

Objective: This study aimed to compare the effects of oliceridine and sufentanil on the quality of postoperative recovery in patients undergoing laparoscopic cholecystectomy (LC). Methods: This study is of single-center, randomized, double-blind, parallel-group controlled, non-inferior design. Ninety-two patients scheduled for LC under general anesthesia were equally and randomly assigned to two groups: Group S (sufentanil) and Group O (oliceridine). During anesthesia induction, Group S received intravenous sufentanil at a dose of 0.20 μg/kg, while Group O received oliceridine at a dose of 0.04 mg/kg. Five minutes prior to incision, an additional dose of sufentanil (15 μg) was administered to Group S, and oliceridine (3 mg) to Group O. At the conclusion of the procedure, all patients received rectus sheath infiltration with 0.3% ropivacaine at the three trocar insertion sites. The primary outcome was the Quality of Recovery-15 (QoR-15) score at 12 and 24 hours postoperatively. The secondary outcome measures included mean arterial pressure (MAP) and heart rate (HR) at different perioperative time points, static visual analog scale (VAS) pain scores within 12 hours postoperatively, and adverse reactions within 24 hours postoperatively. Results: Compared with the sufentanil group, the oliceridine group had significantly higher QoR-15 scores at 12 h and 24 h postoperatively (P< 0.001), and a lower incidence of nausea and vomiting assessed based on QoR-15 scale at 24 h postoperatively (P< 0.05). There were no statistically significant differences in the group-time interaction of MAP and HR between the two groups at each intraoperative time-point (P> 0.05), nor was there a statistically significant difference in the static VAS pain scores within 12 h postoperatively (P> 0.05). Conclusion: In the perioperative pain management of LC, oliceridine can significantly improve the early quality of postoperative recovery, effectively reduce the incidence of postoperative nausea and vomiting, and is non-inferior to sufentanil in terms of hemodynamic stability.