The Impact of Esmolol Administration on Postoperative Recovery

Contemporary anaesthesiology requires the quest of ways to restrict the use of opioids, which aim at the alleviation of severe postoperative and chronic pain. This is not only due to the side effects involved but also to the epidemic dimensions their use entails. Esmolol, an extremely short-acting cardioselective antagonist of β1 adrenergic receptors, is effectively used in order to attenuate the stress response and minimize undesirable perioperative hemodynamic changes. More specifically, esmolol has been used effectively to reduce pain during induction of anesthesia with propofol and treat tachycardia and hypertension during laryngoscopy. However, recent studies also highlight a possible antinociceptive and/or analgesic effect of esmolol. Therefore, The aim of this study will be to investigate the effect of a continuous infusion of low dose esmolol on intraoperative and postoperative opioid consumption, as well as on postoperative recovery and chronic pain