Abstract:Objective To investigate the effects of different doses of esketamine combined with propofol for induction of general anesthesia on early postoperative cognitive dysfunction (POCD) and serum levels of tumor necrosis factor-α (TNF-α), interleukin-6 (IL-6), S100B calcium-binding protein (S-100β) and neuron specific enolase (NSE) in elderly patients undergoing surgery.Methods A total of 105 elderly patients undergoing surgery under general anesthesia in the First People's Hospital of Guiyang from October 2021 to December 2022 were selected and randomly divided into AKL group (n = 35), AKM group (n = 35) and AKH group (n = 35), where general anesthesia was induced by 0.3 mg/kg, 0.4 mg/kg and 0.5 mg/kg of Esketamine combined with propofol, respectively. When the patients became unconscious, 0.25 μg/kg of sufentanil and 0.2 mg/kg of cisatracurium were intravenously injected, and tracheal intubation was performed when the muscles of patients were relaxed. Sevoflurane plus remifentanil was used to maintain anesthesia in all three groups. The minimum alveolar concentration (MAC) of sevoflurane was 0.5 to 0.8, the plasma concentration of remifentanil via target-controlled infusion (TCI) was 2 to 4 ng/mL, and 0.6 mg/kg of cisatracurium was supplemented every 40 minutes. The hemodynamic changes of the three groups before induction of general anesthesia (T0), at the end of drug injection for induction of general anesthesia (T1), before tracheal intubation (T2), immediately after tracheal intubation (T3), and 5 minutes after tracheal intubation (T4) were monitored. In the meanwhile, the serum levels of TNF-α, IL-6, S100β and NSE were measured on the first day before operation (D0), immediately after operation (D1), 1 day after operation (D2), 2 days after operation (D3) and 3 days after operation (D4). Besides, the incidence of POCD was also analyzed.Results The systolic blood pressure (SBP), diastolic blood pressure (DBP) and heart rate (HR) at T0, T1, T2, T3 and T4 were compared among the three groups via the repeated measures ANOVA, which showed that there were differences in SBP, DBP and HR at different time points (P < 0.05) and among the three groups (P < 0.05), and that there was no difference in the change trends of SBP and HR among the three groups (P > 0.05) but there was a difference in the change trend of DBP among the three groups (P < 0.05). The serum levels of TNF-α, IL-6, S100β and NSE at D0, D1, D2, D3 and D4 were also compared among the three groups via the repeated measures ANOVA. The results demonstrated that the serum levels of TNF-α, IL-6, S100β and NSE were different at different time points (P <0.05) and among the three groups (P < 0.05), and that the change trends of the serum levels of TNF-α and IL-6 (P < 0.05) rather than those of S100β and NSE (P > 0.05) were different among three groups. The incidence of POCD at D2 and D3 in the AKH group was significantly lower than that in the AKL and AKM groups (P < 0.05), while the incidence of POCD at D4 was not different among the three groups (P > 0.05). There was no significant difference in the incidence of postoperative delirium and increased oropharyngeal secretions among the three groups (P > 0.05).Conclusions For induction of general anesthesia, 0.5 mg/kg of esketamine combined with propofol can effectively stabilize the hemodynamics during operation, significantly reduce the production of inflammatory factors as well as the serum levels of S100β and NSE after operation, and lower the risk of early POCD.