Perioperative analgesia with parecoxib sodium improves postoperative pain and immune function in patients undergoing hepatectomy for hepatocellular carcinoma

Abstract Rationale, aims, and objectives Acute postoperative pain can result in immune dysfunction, which can be partly mitigated by efficient pain management. Opioids that have been widely applied to analgesia have been shown to suppress immune function, which has a negative impact on the treatment of patients with cancer. This study investigated the effects of perioperative fentanyl analgesia alone or in combination with parecoxib sodium on postoperative pain, immune function, and prognosis in patients undergoing hepatectomy of hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC). Methods A total of 80 patients scheduled for hepatectomy between October 2013 and August 2014 were included. Patients were randomly divided into two groups (n = 40) and allocated to receive parecoxibsodium 40 mg (group P) or placebo (group C) 30 minutes before induction of anaesthesia, followed by 40 mg every 12 hours for 48 hours after the operation. All patients had access to patient‐controlled analgesia with intravenous fentanylpostoperatively. Venous blood samples were collected at the following time points: 30 minutes before induction of anaesthesia (T0), the end of the surgery (T1), 24 hours after surgery (T2), and 72 hours after surgery (T3). The percentages of CD3+, CD4+, CD8+, CD4+/CD8+ T cells, and CD3+CD16+CD56+ (NK) cells at these time points were quantified by flow cytometry (FCM).Visual analogue scale (VAS) scores, total fentanyl consumption, and adverse effects were recorded. The prognostic differences in overall survival (OS) and disease‐free survival (DFS) between the two groups was also investigated. Results For both groups, the percentages of CD3+, CD4+ T cells, and the ratio of CD4+/CD8+ significantly decreased at T1 and T2 ( P < .05). The percentages of CD3+ T cells were significantly lower in group C than that in group P at T2 ( P < .05). In group C, the amount of CD3+ T cells was lower at T3 compared with T0 ( P < .05). The percentages of NK cells significantly decreased at T1 in both groups ( P < .05). The percentages of NK in group P were recovered nearly to baseline (T0) at T2, which was higher than that of group C ( P < .05). In group C, the percentages of NK cells have not recovered nearly to baseline at T3 compared with T0 ( P < .05). VAS scores at rest and on cough in group P were significantly lower than those in group C at 2, 6, 12, and 24 hours after operation ( P < .05), and there were no significant differences in VAS scores between the two groups at 48 hours after surgery ( P > .05). There were no significant differences regarding the incidence of adverse effects between the two groups ( P > .05). Kaplan‐Meier analysis indicated that the DFS time in group P was significantly longer than in group C (19.0 months, 95% confidence interval [CI], 9.8–28.2 vs 14.0 months, 95% CI, 8.1–19.9; P < .05). There was no significant difference in OS time (36.0 months, 95% CI, 13.4–58.9 vs 14.0 months, 95% CI, 10.6–25.4; P > .05) between two groups. Conclusions The present study indicated that perioperative analgesia of parecoxib sodium combined with patient‐controlled analgesic fentanyl resulted in better preserved immune function with enhancement of the analgesic efficacy to fentanyl alone of HCC patients undergoing hepatectomy and helped postpone postoperative tumour recurrence.