Cata JP, et al. - This study assessed the link between intraoperative dexmedetomidine use and increased recurrence-free survival (RFS) and overall survival (OS) in patients operated for nonsmall cell lung cancer (NSCLC). Findings demonstrated that intraoperative use of dexmedetomidine was not associated with a significant impact on RFS and but worsening OS.

Methods

• Researchers performed a propensity score-matched (PSM) retrospective study at a single academic center.
• This study included patients with Stage I through IIIa NSCLC and excluded patients if they were younger than 18 years.
• Primary outcomes of the study were RFS and OS.
• They assessed RFS and OS using univariate and multivariate Cox proportional hazards models after PSM (n = 251/group) to examine the link between intraoperative dexmedetomidine use and the primary outcomes.
• The value ofP < 0.05 was considered statistically significant.

Results

• Researchers found that after PSM and adjusting for significant covariates, the multivariate analysis demonstrated no association between the use of dexmedetomidine and RFS (hazard ratio [HR] [95% confidence interval (CI)]: HR = 1.18, 95% CI: 0.91–1.53; P = 0.199).
• In addition, the multivariate analysis also showed an association between the administration of dexmedetomidine and reduced OS (HR = 1.28, 95% CI: 1.03–1.59; P = 0.024).