Abstract:Objective To explore the postoperative analgesic efficacy of thoracic paravertebral block (TPVB) and epidural block (EB) before non-intubated thoracoscopic lobectomy, and their effects on serum inflammatory factors and pain mediators.Methods A total of 198 patients who underwent non-intubated thoracoscopic lobectomy from October 2020 to October 2022 in Shengli Oilfield Central Hospital were selected and randomly divided into TPVB group, EB group and control group via simple sampling, with 66 patients in each group. The control group received non-intubated anesthesia with spontaneous breathing, the TPVB group received TPVB combined with non-intubated anesthesia with spontaneous breathing, and the EB group received EB combined with non-intubated anesthesia with spontaneous breathing. Perioperative indicators, heart rate (HR), mean arterial pressure (MAP), Visual Analogue Scale (VAS) score, Ramsay Sedation Scale score, serum pain mediators [5-hydroxytryptamine (5-HT), substance P (SP), norepinephrine (NE), dopamine (DA) ], inflammatory factors [high-sensitivity C-reactive protein (hs-CRP), tumor necrosis factor-α (TNF-α), interleukin-6 (IL-6) ], and humoral immune function (IgA, IgG, IgM) were compared among the three groups, and perioperative adverse reactions were recorded.Results There was no difference in duration of anesthesia, operative duration, dosage of dexmedetomidine or dosage of propofol (P > 0.05). The dosage of fentanyl in the TPVB group and the EB group was lower than that in the control group (P < 0.05). HR and MAP in the three groups at T1, T2, T3 and T4 were compared via repeated measures analysis of variance, and the results demonstrated that HR and MAP were different among the time points (P < 0.05) and the groups (P < 0.05), and that the change trends of HR and MAP differed among the groups (P < 0.05). VAS scores and Ramsay Sedation Scale scores 6 h, 12 h, 24 h and 48 h after the surgery were compared via repeated measures analysis of variance, which exhibited that VAS scores and Ramsay Sedation Scale scores were different among the time points (P < 0.05) and the groups (P < 0.05), and that the change trends of VAS scores and Ramsay Sedation Scale scores were different among the groups (P < 0.05). The levels of 5-HT, SP, NE and DA in the three groups 1 d and 3 d after the surgery were compared via repeated measures analysis of variance, and the results showed that they were different among the time points (P <0.05) and the groups (P < 0.05), and that the change trends of these indicators were also different among the groups (P < 0.05). The levels of hs-CRP, TNF-α and IL-6 in the three groups 1 d and 3 d after the surgery were compared via repeated measures analysis of variance, and the results indicated that they were different among the time points (P < 0.05) and the groups (P < 0.05), and that the change trends of them were different among the groups (P < 0.05). The levels of IgA, IgG and IgM in the three groups 1 d and 3 d after the surgery were compared via repeated measures analysis of variance, and the results suggested that they were different among the time points (P < 0.05). In contrast, there was no significant difference in levels of IgA, IgG and IgM and the change trends thereof among different groups (P > 0.05). The incidence of cardiac arrhythmias, pulmonary atelectasis and hypoxemia was not different among the three groups (P > 0.05), while the incidence of hypotension was different among the three groups (P < 0.05).Conclusions The analgesic and sedative efficacy of TPVB is comparable to that of EB applied in non-intubated thoracoscopic lobectomy, and both of TPVB and EB may mitigate the impact on MAP, HR and other vital signs of patients. However, TPVB is superior to EB in inhibiting pain mediators and inflammatory factors, and is safe and of value for being widely applied.