Effects of Small-Dose Esketamine on Postoperative Analgaesia and Sleep Quality in Patients with Total Hip Replacement

Objective: To determine the effect of esketamine in patient-controlled analgaesia after hip replacement on postoperative pain and improve sleep quality in patients. Study Design: Randomised double-blind study. Place and Duration of the Study: Department of Anaesthesiology, The First Affiliated Hospital of Guangxi Medical University, from March 2021 to May 2022. Methodology: The research enrolled 72 patients who were subjected to unilateral complete hip replacement surgery utilising jointly administered universal and peripheral nerve-obstructing anaesthetics. A randomised numeric table method was used to allocate patients to either the F-D group (fentanyl combined with dexmedetomidine, n = 34) or the Es-D group (esketamine combined with dexmedetomidine, n = 38). The key outcome indicators included the time to first administration of rescue analgaesic, the dose of rescue analgaesics, and postoperative sleep quality. Results: Baseline characteristics did not differ between the two groups. The time until postoperative analgaesic rescue medication was considerably shorter for those in the Es-D group (p