Effect of dezocine combined with sufentanil on postoperative recovery quality and analgesia in patients undergoing laparoscopic thoracic surgery: the EZGO multicenter randomized double-blind parallel controlled trial

Background: Dezocine has been used for postoperative analgesia. However, its combination with sufentanil on postoperative recovery quality remains poorly understood. Methods: The Ease Go multicenter randomized controlled trial recruited 210 patients undergoing laparoscopic thoracic surgery from eight tertiary academic medical centers. The dezocine–sufentanil group received dezocine 1.0 mg/kg combined with sufentanil 2.0 μg/kg, while the sufentanil monotherapy group received sufentanil 3.0 μg/kg via a patient-controlled intravenous analgesia (PCIA) pump. The primary outcome was the quality of recovery (QoR-15) at 24 hours after PCIA pump initiation. The secondary outcomes included qualified recovery quality, patient global impression of change, the effective number of analgesic pump compressions, postoperative pain scores, as well as the use of rescue analgesics within 48 hours after PCIA pump initiation. Results: The mean QoR-15 scores at 24 and 48 hours after PCIA pump initiation in the dezocine–sufentanil vs. sufentanil group were 111.16 vs. 108.12 ( P = 0.321) and 121.96 vs. 120.14 ( P = 0.501), respectively. A higher proportion of qualified recovery quality was observed in the dezocine–sufentanil group (71.72% vs. 57.00%, P = 0.030 at 24 hours; 78.79% vs. 63.00%, P = 0.014 at 48 hours). The pain score was significantly lower in the dezocine–sufentanil group compared to the sufentanil group at 2, 4, 6, and 12 hours after PCIA pump initiation (all P < 0.05). The effective number of analgesic pump compressions (6.54 vs. 11.85, P = 0.001) and the proportion of patients requiring rescue medication (18.18% vs. 32.00%, P = 0.025) within 48 hours after pump initiation were both lower in the dezocine–sufentanil group. Conclusions: The QoR-15 score after laparoscopic thoracic surgery was not improved by the combined analgesia with dezocine and sufentanil. Nevertheless, the combined analgesia provided a higher qualified recovery quality rate and fewer analgesic requirements than sufentanil analgesia.