Effect of Combined Etomidate-Ketamine Anesthesia on Perioperative Electrocardiogram and Postoperative Cognitive Dysfunction of Elderly Patients with Rheumatic Heart Valve Disease Undergoing Heart Valve Replacement.

OBJECTIVE: To explore the effect of combined etomidate-ketamine anesthesia on perioperative electrocardiogram (ECG) and postoperative cognitive dysfunction (POCD) of elderly patients with rheumatic heart valve disease (RHVD) undergoing heart valve replacement.
METHODS: The data of 100 elderly RHVD patients treated in our hospital from May 2019 to May 2020 were selected for the retrospective analysis, and by adopting the double-blind method, the patients were divided into the ketamine group (n = 50) and the combined group (n = 50) according to the anesthesia methods. During the induction of anesthesia, the patients of the two groups were given a small dose of ketamine (0.5 mg/kg) at 5 μg/kg/min continuously via pump injection until the end of surgery, and on this basis, with the same anesthesia measures, those in the combined group were given etomidate (0.3 mg/kg) additionally. The patients' perioperative ECG indicators, POCD scores, and Numeric Rating Scale (NRS) scores were compared between the two groups.
RESULTS: Compared with the ketamine group, the combined group presented significantly lower incidence of ST-T wave changes after anesthesia induction and at the time of intubation and skin incision (P < 0.05), significantly lower average magnitude of ST-segment depression after anesthesia induction (P < 0.001), significantly lower average magnitude of ST-segment elevation after anesthesia induction and extubation (P < 0.001), significantly lower POCD incidence (6.%, P < 0.05), and significantly better NRS score after surgery (P < 0.001).
CONCLUSION: Combined etomidate-ketamine anesthesia can stabilize the perioperative ECG indicators of elderly RHVD patients undergoing heart valve replacement, improve their postoperative cognitive function, and reduce their pain sensation, which should be promoted and applied in practice.

1. Introduction

Rheumatic heart valve disease (RHVD) refers to the heart disease caused by rheumatic valve inflammation, with valvular heart disease being the main pathological feature. Its incidence gradually decreased after the 1990s [1], but by the end of 2015, there were still 33.4 million of RHVD patients worldwide, and among all countries, China had the second highest incidence (7.7 million) and the highest mortality rate [2, 3], implying that deepening the related research on its treatment measures allows no delay. Currently, surgical procedure is the most effective treatment for RHVD, and percutaneous transluminal balloon mitral or aortic valvuloplasty, valvular commissurotomy, and prosthetic valve replacement are commonly performed. Reports show that the success rate of valve replacement is over 98% [4, 5] and most patients have a good prognosis, but RHVD patients are usually complicated with cardiac function injury and experience greater risk of hemodynamic fluctuation during anesthesia [6]; in particular, elderly patients with multiple underlying diseases are more demanding in anesthesia and have poor physical performance. Therefore, the selection of suitable anesthetic drugs is the key to guarantee the effect of valve replacement.

According to the existing literature, etomidate is an anesthetic with minimal effect on the circulation [7] and can effectively stabilize hemodynamic indexes in patients, and its impact on heart rate and blood pressure is much lower than that of other anesthetic drugs, which can reduce the probability of arrhythmias and other phenomena in patients [8, 9]. Some studies have also shown that the advantages of etomidate for elderly patients are extremely obvious; for example, it can reduce the likelihood of postoperative cognitive dysfunction in them and is beneficial for shortening their postoperative hospital stay [10]. In addition to etomidate, Zhai et al. found that low-dose ketamine can also attenuate cognitive dysfunction induced by anesthetics such as sevoflurane in aged rats [11] and at the same time alleviate fentanyl-induced postoperative hyperalgesia, indicating that it can be applied in elderly patients undergoing heart valve replacement. At present, there are few clinical studies on etomidate and ketamine, and the effect of applying the two to elderly RHVD patients is still unclear. Based on this, the study herein was carried out, and the results are summarized as follows.

2. Materials and Methods

2.1. Inclusion and Exclusion Criteria

Inclusion criteria: (1) the patients were diagnosed with RHVD [12] and accepted heart valve replacement; (2) the New York Heart Association (NYHA) classification was grade II or III, and the American Society of Anaesthesiologists (ASA) classification was grade II or III [13, 14]; (3) the patients' myocardial enzyme did not increase within 24 h before surgery; (4) the patients were not allergic to the drugs involved in the study; and (5) the patients were treated in our hospital in the whole course and had complete clinical data. Exclusion criteria: (1) the patients had serious organic diseases and abnormal liver and kidney function; (2) the patients had history of anesthetic allergy; (3) the patients had history of hypertension and diabetes; and (4) the patients were unable to communicate with others due to cognitive function disorders, mental diseases, or other factors.

2.2. General Data

A total of 100 RHVD patients treated in our hospital from May 2019 to May 2020 were enrolled in the study and divided into the ketamine group (n = 50) and combined group (n = 50) according to the anesthesia methods. Between the ketamine group and the combined group, patients' general data including gender (22 vs. 24 males, 28 vs. 26 females), mean age (46.98 ± 5.21 vs. 47.01 ± 5.22 years), mean body weight (60.11 ± 2.65 vs. 59.98 ± 2.35 kg), cardiothoracic ratio (0.62 ± 0.04 vs. 0.62 ± 0.03), number of cases with grades II and III heart function (25 and 25 vs. 28 and 22), and number of cases with grades II and III anesthesia (28 and 22 vs. 27 and 23) were not statistically different (P > 0.05), presenting comparability.

2.3. Moral Consideration

The study met the principles in the World Medical Association Declaration of Helsinki (2013) [15], and the patients and their family members signed the informed consent form.

2.4. Methods

Half an hour before surgery, the patients in the two groups were given morphine and 0.3 mg of scopolamine via intramuscular injection; after they entered the operating room, their ECG, heart rate, and blood pressure were under constant monitoring, 0.1 mg of sufentanil were given via intravenous drip, and pressure measurement at the radial artery puncture side and subclavian vein catheterization under the right clavicle were performed to record relevant values before induction. During induction, the patients were given midazolam (0.05–0.08 mg/kg; Jiangsu Nhwa Pharmaceutical Co., Ltd.; NMPA approval no. H10980025), fentanyl (10–15 μg/kg; Jiangsu Nhwa Pharmaceutical Co., Ltd.; NMPA approval no. H20113508), pipecuronium (0.08–0.10 mg/kg; Sichuan Credit Pharmaceutical Co., Ltd.; NMPA approval no. H20084465), and low-dose ketamine (0.5 mg/kg; Shanxi Taiyuan Pharmaceutical Co., Ltd.; NMPA approval no. H14022824), of which ketamine was continuously administered at 5 μg/kg/min via pump injection until the end of the surgery; on this basis, the patients in the combined group were administered with etomidate (0.3 mg/kg; Jiangsu Nhwa Pharmaceutical Co., Ltd.; NMPA approval no. H20020511) additionally. After the induction of anesthesia, tracheal intubation was performed for mechanical ventilation, and the partial pressure of end-tidal carbon dioxide was maintained at 35–40 mmHg. Patients in the two groups were administered with midazolam (0.03–0.06 mg/kg), fentanyl (5–10 μg/kg), and pipecuronium (0.05–0.08 mg/kg) via intermittent intravenous injection to maintain anesthesia.

2.5. Observation Criteria

2.5.1. Perioperative ECG Indicators

Patients' ECG data were monitored before anesthesia (T1), after induction of anesthesia (T2), and at the time of intubation (T3), skin incision (T4), and extubation (T5) with the multifunctional monitor (Fukuda Denshi CardiMax FX-8322; Beijing MPA Certified No. 20142210860) to record the ST-T wave changes (elevation or depression). Standard for ST-segment depression: magnitude of ST-segment depression ≥0.05 mV; standard for ST-segment elevation: VI-V3 leads' elevation ≥0.2 mV, leads' elevation of V4–V6, and other limbs ≥0.1 mV. The incidence rates of ST-T wave changes at various time points during the perioperative period were recorded to analyze the perioperative mean magnitude of ST-T wave depression and elevation of patients in the two groups.

2.5.2. POCD

Twenty-four hours after surgery, the patients were evaluated by Montreal Cognitive Assessment (MoCA) [16], which contained 7 domains, namely, visuospatial, executive functions, naming, attention, abstraction, delayed recall, and orientation. The total score was 30 points, and scores equal to or over 26 points indicated normal cognition. Patients were considered to have POCD by ≥1 standard deviation decrease in the score on two or more items before and after surgery compared with the standard deviation.

2.5.3. NRS

The NRS [12] presented the degree of pain with numbers from 1 to 10 instead of words, namely, a straight line was divided into 10 segments for patients to draw a circle around the number that best described the pain dimension, with 0 point being no pain, 1–3 points being mild pain not affecting sleep, 4–6 points being moderate pain, 7–9 points being severe pain leading to trouble to sleep or keeping them awake at night, and 10 points being the worst pain imaginable. The NRS was an internationally common pain assessment scale, which was suitable for elderly people to record their pain scores 1 day before surgery, 12 h after surgery, and 24 h after surgery.

2.6. Statistical Processing

In this study, the data processing software was SPSS20.0, the picture drawing software was GraphPad Prism 7 (GraphPad Software, San Diego, USA), the items included were enumeration data and measurement data, the methods used were the X2 test and t-test, and differences were considered statistically significant at P < 0.05.

3. Results

3.1. Perioperative ECG Indicators

Compared with the ketamine group, the combined group obtained significantly lower incidence of ST-T wave changes after induction of anesthesia and at the time of intubation and skin incision (P < 0.05), significantly lower average magnitude of ST-segment depression after induction of anesthesia (P < 0.001), and significantly lower average magnitude of ST-segment elevation after induction of anesthesia and extubation (P < 0.001), see Tables 1 and 2.

Table 1

Comparison of incidence of patients' perioperative ST-T wave changes [n (%)].

Group	Combined, n = 50	Ketamine, n = 50	X 2	P
T1	30 (60.0)	32 (64.0)	0.170	0.680
T2	18 (36.0)	28 (56.0)	4.026	0.045
T3	25 (50.0)	38 (76.0)	7.250	0.007
T4	28 (56.0)	40 (80.0)	6.618	0.010
T5	30 (60.0)	32 (64.0)	0.170	0.680

Table 2

Average magnitude of patients' perioperative ST-T depression and elevation (x ± s, mV).

Group	Combined, n = 50	Ketamine, n = 50	t	P
ST-T-segment depression
T1	0.15 ± 0.04	0.15 ± 0.05	0.000	1.000
T2	0.12 ± 0.05	0.11 ± 0.06	0.905	0.368
T5	0.14 ± 0.08	0.24 ± 0.10	5.522	<0.001
ST-T-segment elevation
T1	0	0	—	—
T2	0.16 ± 0.05	0.20 ± 0.04	4.417	<0.001
T5	0.12 ± 0.05	0.19 ± 0.07	5.754	<0.001

3.2. POCD and NRS

Compared with the ketamine group after surgery, the combined group presented significantly lower POCD incidence (P < 0.05) and obtained significantly lower NRS score (P < 0.001), see Figure 1.

Figure 1

Comparison of patients' POCD and NRS scores ( ± s, points). The horizontal axes from left to right indicate 1 d before surgery, 12 h after surgery, and 24 h after surgery, the lines with dots indicate the combined group, and the lines with blocks indicate the ketamine group; P < 0.05 and #P < 0.001. (a) POCD. Twenty-four hours after surgery, the POCD incidence of the combined group was 6.0% (3/50), which was significantly lower than that of the ketamine group (20.0%, 10/50), P < 0.05. (b) NRS. One day before surgery, the NRS scores of the combined group and the ketamine group were not statistically different (4.23 ± 0.78 vs. 4.25 ± 0.74, P > 0.05), and 12 h and 24 h after surgery, the NRS scores of the combined group and the ketamine group were statistically different (6.01 ± 1.00 vs. 6.88 ± 0.98, 5.99 ± 0.68 vs. 6.58 ± 0.70, P < 0.001).

4. Discussion

Etomidate is one of the imidazole anesthetics, which was referred to as currently the intravenous anesthetic with the least effect on the circulatory system by Sahi et al. Compared with other conventional anesthetics, it has significantly smaller impact on hemodynamics and can effectively increase coronary blood flow and maintain myocardial blood supply, which is suitable for elderly patients suffering from cardiovascular diseases [17]. Scholars Xu et al. found that etomidate can stabilize the intraoperative heart rate in elderly patients undergoing laparotomy and compared with propofol, and it has less effect on perioperative heart rate and mean arterial pressure and can improve the intraoperative inflammatory response in patients, which is beneficial for reducing the chance of arrhythmia [18]. Because RHVD patients usually have comorbid impairment of cardiac function and dramatic hemodynamic fluctuations during anesthesia, applying etomidate can effectively stabilize hemodynamic indexes. The study found that, after induction of anesthesia and at the time of intubation and skin incision, the incidence of ST-T wave changes was significantly lower in the combined group than in the ketamine group (P < 0.05), indicating that the anesthetic applied in the combined group could alleviate myocardial hypoxia because when the patients' heart rate was slowed, their myocardial oxygen consumption reduced, and the prolonged diastolic phase enabled the increased coronary filling period, so the myocardial blood supply was concomitantly elevated. For elderly RHVD patients, anesthesia, surgical trauma, bleeding, intraoperative stretch, etc. all lead to strong cardiovascular response, and their intraoperative inflammatory reaction and neuroendocrine changes further aggravate stress injury [19], so their perioperative ECG indicators mostly present ST-T wave changes aggravating or ST-segment arched elevation, and they may even develop into severe arrhythmias. ST-T-segment elevation is an ECG waveform in which blood supply to the myocardium is markedly reduced so as to trigger acute ischemic injury. In this study, ST-T-segment elevation appeared in patients of the two groups after induction of anesthesia, but compared with the ketamine group, the combined group obtained significantly average magnitude of ST-segment elevation after induction of anesthesia and extubation (P < 0.05) and significantly average magnitude of ST-segment depression after induction of anesthesia (P < 0.05), demonstrating that patients in the combined group had more stable hemodynamics and better myocardial blood supply and that etomidate was an important anesthetic for alleviating perioperative ST-T wave changes for elderly RHVD patients.

Hemodynamics is an important factor affecting patients' postoperative cognitive function. It has been shown that intraoperative trauma, infection, stress response, and hemodynamic changes affect the secretion frequency of inflammatory mediators [20, 21] and that inflammatory reactions and immune system activation lead to decline in memory and cognitive function in elderly patients after surgery, whereas etomidate can reversibly inhibit 11-beta-hydroxylase, thereby reducing the frequency of conversion of 11-deoxycortisol to cortisol and attenuating the inflammatory response. Scholars Ketaki Ramteke et al. reported that etomidate can effectively reduce patients' levels of inflammatory factors 12 h and 24 h after surgery, with the effect similar to propofol [22], implying that etomidate works positively in improving patients' postoperative cognitive function; hence, the POCD incidence was significantly lower in the combined group than in the ketamine group (P < 0.001). In addition, ketamine may also affect the postoperative cognitive function. Some studies have shown that low-dose ketamine attenuates cognitive dysfunction induced by anesthesia with drugs such as sevoflurane [23], and the mechanism may lie in the activation of the GluR2/N-cadherin signaling pathway by ketamine enhancing synaptic plasticity in the entorhinal area. Moreover, research has shown that low-dose ketamine can prevent fentanyl-induced postoperative hyperalgesia and reduce subjective pain perception in patients [24] and that etomidate also has a good analgesia effect better than propofol, so the group that accepted the combined anesthesia with two drugs obtained significantly better postoperative NRS score than the ketamine group (P < 0.001).

In conclusion, combined etomidate-ketamine anesthesia can stabilize the perioperative ECG indicators of elderly RHVD patients and improve their postoperative cognitive function.