Abstract:Objective To explore the effect of different maintenance dosages of Propofol target controlled anesthesia on postoperative cognitive dysfunction (POCD) and nerve growth factor (NGF) expression in the patients with off-pump coronary artery bypass grafting (op-CABG). Methods This study included 105 patients receiving op-CABG surgery in our hospital between May 2013 and April 2015. According to the random number table they were divided into three groups. According to the dosages of Propofol target controlled anesthesia they were divided into high-dose group (> 3.0 μg/ml), medium-dose group (2.5-3.0 μg/ml), and low-dose group (< 2.5 μg/ml), with 35 cases in each group. The surgical time, anesthesia time, and incidence of POCD were compared among the three groups. The depth of anesthesia, hemodynamic parameters, and nerve growth factor (NGF) level were also compared at different anesthetic stages. Results Among the three groups, the surgery time and anesthesia time were not significantly different (P > 0.05), but the POCD incidences in the medium-dose group and high-dose group were 11.4% and 5.7% respectively, which were significantly lower than 31.4% in the low-dose group (P < 0.05). In addition, the depth of anesthesia and mean arterial pressure were not significantly different between the medium-dose group and high-dose group, but both were lower than those in the low-dose group ( < 0.05). There were no statistical differences in the perioperative heart rate among the three groups (P > 0.05). After surgery, the NGF expression levels of the medium-dose and high-dose groups were significantly higher than that of the low-dose group (P < 0.05). Conclusions In Propofol target controlled anesthesia, the maintenance dosage of 2.5-3.0 μg/ml can induce satisfactory depth of anesthesia, meanwhile reduce the impact of drugs on the body's hemodynamics, and help to reduce the occurrence of POCD and promote the expression of NGF.