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Fu Shi, Yanjie Chen, Hongtao Li, Yang Zhang, Tonghang Zhao Department of Anesthesiology, Liaocheng People’s Hospital, Liaocheng, 252000, People’s Republic of ChinaCorrespondence: Tonghang Zhao Email zthlymz@163.comIntroduction: The best candidate intravenous anesthetic agent for patients with liver cirrhosis undergoing endoscopic variceal ligation (EVL) remains unclear. Remimazolam tosilate (RT) is a new type of benzodiazepine with quick onset, rapid recovery, and no accumulation. Here, we investigated the efficacy and safety of RT for general anesthesia in cirrhotic patients undergoing EVL.Methods: Patients undergoing EVL were randomly classified into the remimazolam tosilate (group R) and the propofol group (group P). RT was administered as a slow bolus of 0.2 mg/kg for induction and followed by 1.0– 2.0 mg/kg/h for maintenance of general anesthesia. Propofol was started at 2 mg/kg, followed by 4– 10 mg/kg/h until the end of surgery. Flumazenil was routinely administered to group R and the same volume of saline was given to group P immediately after surgery. The efficacy and safety of RT for general anesthesia during EVL were compared with propofol.Results: All patients in the two groups had satisfactory anesthetic effects and the efficacy rates were 100%. The time to loss of consciousness (LoC) was longer in group R than in group P (P > 0.05). The return of consciousness (RoC) time, extubation time, and transfer time in group R were significantly shorter than that in group P (P < 0.05). The incidence of intraoperative hypotension and postoperative low SpO2 in group R were lower than that in the group P (P < 0.05). There were no significant differences between the two groups with respect to the satisfaction degree of patients and operators (P > 0.05).Conclusion: Remimazolam tosilate can provide satisfactory anesthetic effects for surgery. Group R patients recovered faster and had a shorter PACU stay time than group P patients. Moreover, RT decreased the incidence of hypotension and low SpO2. RT was a safer and more effective alternative for general anesthesia in cirrhotic patients undergoing EVL than propofol.Keywords: remimazolam tosilate, propofol, general anesthesia, endoscopic variceal ligation, liver cirrhosis

Xianwen Liu,1 Baofeng Ding,2 Fu Shi,1 Yang Zhang,1 Lei Liu,1 Yongwei Sha,3 Tonghang Zhao1 1Department of Anaesthesiology, Liaocheng People’s Hospital, Liaocheng, Shandong, People’s Republic of China; 2Department of Anaesthesiology, Liaocheng Second People’s Hospital, Liaocheng, Shandong, People’s Republic of China; 3Department of Anaesthesiology, Guanxian Central Hospital, Liaocheng, Shandong, People’s Republic of ChinaCorrespondence: Tonghang Zhao Email lbzthgn@163.comObjective: The optimal sedation regime during endoscopy remains controversial, especially for elderly outpatients. In this study, we compared the efficacy and safety between remimazolam tosilate (RT) and etomidate-propofol (EP) in elderly outpatients undergoing colonoscopy.Methods: A total of 260 elderly outpatients undergoing sedative colonoscopy were randomized into two groups. Patients in the RT group received a 0.075-mg/kg maintenance dose of remimazolam following an initial dose of 0.15 mg/kg, whereas patients in the EP group (10 mL:20 mg etomidate plus 10 mL:100 mg propofol) received a 0.05-mL/kg maintenance dose following an initial dose of 0.1 mL/kg to maintain a Modified Observer’s Assessment of Alertness/Sedation score of ≤ 3 during the procedure. The primary endpoint was the success of the procedure. Secondary endpoints included time metrics, hemodynamics, consumption of fentanyl, etomidate, propofol, and remimazolam, intraoperative body movement, patient and endoscopist satisfaction scores, supplemental dose of sedative and fentanyl, and incidence and severity of adverse events.Results: The procedure success rate was 96.52% in the RT group and 100% in the EP group. The difference in procedure success rate between the RT and EP groups was − 3.48% (95% confidence interval: − 6.81%, − 0.15%). Four patients in the RT group required rescue midazolam. Compared with patients in the RT group, the onset time of the EP group was significantly lower (p < 0.05), whereas time to fully alert (p = 0.001), ready for discharge (p = 0.001), and hospital discharge (p = 0.002) were all significantly higher in the EP group. However, there were no significant differences in procedure time (p = 0.846) or cecal intubation time (p = 0.320) between the two groups. Although the frequency of intraoperative body movement was higher in the RT group, the difference was not significant (p = 0.508). There were no significant differences in patients’ demographic and baseline characteristics, supplemental doses of sedative and fentanyl, or patient and endoscopist satisfaction scores (p > 0.05). Muscular tremor and pain on injection were recorded more frequently in the EP group (p < 0.05). However, there were no significant differences in hypoxia, respiratory depression, or incidence of postoperative nausea and vomiting. The severity of adverse events was all mild (grade 1) across both groups.Conclusion: RT may have non-inferior efficacy and a higher safety profile than EP in elderly outpatients undergoing colonoscopy, which suggests that RT may be more suitable for elderly outpatients undergoing colonoscopy.Keywords: remimazolam tosilate, etomidate, propofol, elderly outpatients, colonoscopy

Yingying Qi, Lina Guo, Yanchao Liu, Tonghang Zhao, Xianwen Liu, Yang Zhang Department of Anesthesiology, Liaocheng People’s Hospital, Liaocheng, Shandong, People’s Republic of ChinaCorrespondence: Yang ZhangDepartment of Anesthesiology, Liaocheng People’s Hospital, No. 67, Dongchang West Road, Liaocheng, 252000, Shandong, People’s Republic of ChinaTel +86-0635-8276414Email zhangyang3309@163.comPurpose: Sevoflurane (SEV) is a frequently used volatile anesthetic in cancer surgery. Sevoflurane treatment has been shown to suppress the migration and invasion of several human cancer cells. However, the effect of sevoflurane on glioma remains largely unclear.Methods: Glioma cell lines (U251 and U343) were treated by various concentrations of sevoflurane. 3-(4,5-dimethyl-2-thiazolyl)-2,5-diphenyl-2-H-tetrazolium bromide (MTT), flow cytometry assay, and transwell assay were performed to detect the cell viability, apoptosis, migration and invasion. Western blot assay was employed to detect the protein levels of β-catenin, c-Myc, CyclinD1, β-catenin, N-cadherin, vimentin, and DEK. Moreover, quantitative real-time polymerase chain reaction (qRT-PCR) was used to examine the expression level of miR-218-5p. The target interaction between miR-218-5p and DEK was predicted through bioinformatics analysis and verified by dual-luciferase reporter assay system.Results: We found that sevoflurane aberrantly inhibited the abilities on viability, migration, invasion, EMT and β-catenin signaling and promoted cell apoptosis in U251 and U343 cells in a dose-dependent manner. MiR-218-5p strikingly suppressed the abilities of proliferation, migration, invasion rather than apoptosis and activation of β-catenin signaling. Sevoflurane could facilitate the miR-218-5p expression, and its suppressing effects on glioma cells were reversed by pre-treatment with miR-218-5p inhibitors or pcDNA3.1/DEK in vitro and in vivo. Silencing of miR-218-5p reverted sh-DEK and sevoflurane-induced repression on proliferation, migration, invasion, and β-catenin signaling, and promotion on apoptosis in the glioma cells.Conclusion: Our data showed that sevoflurane inhibited the proliferation, migration, invasion, and enhanced the apoptosis in glioma cells through regulating miR-218-5p/DEK/β-catenin axis.Keywords: glioma, sevoflurane, miR-218-5p, DEK, β-catenin signaling pathway