The results of the study demonstrated that the total QoR-40 scores decreased less on POD1 in patients following FESS who received remimazolam or dexmedetomidine than received placebo. Treatment with remimazolam or dexmedetomidine also reduced the cumulative consumption of remifentanil, lowered the pain intensity and the incidence of PONV. Additionally, compared with the group D, the time to awareness and the length of stay in the PACU were lower in groups R and C. At the dose selected in the study, bradycardia was noted in 15 patients in the group D, but no bradycardia was recorded in the groups R and C.
Previous studies have validated the effectiveness and reliability of QoR-40 in general surgery patients[8].Furthermore,a study showed that total intravenous anesthesia was more beneficial to physical comfort and physical independence, out of five dimensions of the QoR-40 questionnaires than inhalation anesthesia[20]. Another study also reported that remimazolam-based anesthesia was more effective than sevoflurane-based anesthesia on preventing PONV and improving quality of recovery in cervical spine surgery[21].Additionally,Matsumoto et al. has compared the effect on PONV using remimazolam and propofol,and the result showed that there was not significant difference in the incidence of PONV[22].Similarly to these results, the incidence of PONV in the groups R and D was lower than in the group C. Despite the fact that otolaryngological procedures without prophylactic antiemetics is considered risk factors for PONV[23], but only 6 and 8 patients had PONV in the groups R and D,respectively. Moreover, intraoperative opioid use has a positive relationship with PONV[24]. In the present study,the cumulative consumption of remifentanil was decreased in the groups R and D than in the group C.Another study parallels to our study. Zhang et al.[25]reported that dexmedetomidine could decrease the occurrence of PONV in adult patients under general anaesthesia and promote recovery. Hence,the main reason of inhibition of PONV may be opioid-sparing effect of remimazolam and dexmedetomidine in the study [12, 26].
Besides, Erskine et al.[27]found that mood disturbance is a highly prevalent in patients with CRS,which negatively impacts on patients’quality of life.Recent studies reported that emotion was regulated by remimazolam and dexmedetomidine[28, 29].Our finding showed that the scores of the emotional state were higher in the groups R and D than in the group C,these results suggested that remimazolam and dexmedetomidine improved patients' emotional state.Given potential anti- depressant properties of remimazolam or dexmedetomidine, the total score of QoR-40 was decreased less in the groups R and D than in the group C.Nevertheless,the current findings were contradicted the results from a recent study.In their study, the scores of physical comfort and emotional state were lower in the remimazolam group than in the propofol group,an undesirable desensitization-like effect at the top end of the response curve and a rebound phenomenon upon the termination of the agent contributed to the reason[30].whereas a low dose infusion of remimazolam was used as a narcotic adjunct in the study, no significant difference was observed in the groups R and D.
Variety of factors such as gender,age, concurrent turbinectomy, or number of sinuses addressed might be associated with increased POD1 pain scores[13].But the aforementioned risk factors were not statistically different in the study,which were not assessed to predict higher POD1 scores. FESS is commonly used in clinical practice associated with a better tolerated procedure, greater symptom improvement, and fewer complications than the traditional open approach[2]. Notably, patient underwent FESS experienced mile to moderate postoperative pain on POD1, and remained a lack of specific pain management[4].Many nociceptive, inflammatory, and neuropathic pathway contribute to perioperative pain and delay patient recovery after surgical procedures[31]. A recent study demonstrated that neuropathic pain induced by injected with complete freund’s adjuvant in rats was alleviated by remimazolam through regulating bradykinin receptor B1and autophagy[32].Additionally,another study also showed that remimazolam attenuated myocardial ischemia-reperfusion injury by inhibiting the NF-qB pathway of macrophage inflammation[33]. Furthermore, a study reported that dexmedetomidine relieved neuropathic pain and inflammation response[34]. Therefore, appropriate management of postoperative pain is known to improve the recovery of patients.The results of our study showed that the pain intensity and analgesic consumption were significantly reduced in the groups R and D than in the group C.The explanation maybe linked to analgesic potency of dexmedetomidine or remimazolam.
Moreover,the half-life of dexmedetomidine is 2–3 h[9],while that of remimazolam is 1–2 h [11],and remimazolam has its own antagonist, flumazenil. Thus,the duration of awakening and the length of stay in the PACU in group R were significantly lower than in the group D. Intravenous infusion of high doses of both agents might lead to adverse effects such as delayed recovery and respiratory or cardiovascular depression[35, 36].However, no patient required postoperative respiratory support, and no serious cardiovascular or other adverse reactions occurred in the groups R and D,suggesting that the infusion dose selected for dexmedetomidine or remimazolam in this study was safe.
There were several limitations in this study. Firstly, the focus of the study was only to evaluate the short-term recovery of patients after surgery, and the long-term recovery after surgery were not analyzed.Secondly,the relationship between the severity of chronic sinusitis and the quality of recovery was not analyzed. Thirdly, the number of patients enrolled was small,the study was a single-center clinical study, and the conclusion was further supported by large-sample and multi-center studies. Therefore, the results of this study were limited to generalize.