Tropical Journal of Pharmaceutical Research

Original Research Article | OPEN ACCESS

Therapeutic effects of ulinastatin on postoperative complications and cognitive function in elderly patients with esophageal cancer after thoracic laparoscopic surgery

Peng Yuan¹, Yanli Wang², Chunlai Jin¹, Daling Wang¹

¹Department of Thoracic Surgery, First People's Hospital, Jinan; ²Department of Geriatrics, Fifth People's Hospital, Qingdao, China.

For correspondence:- Daling Wang Email: zaitofk0816@163.com

Accepted: 28 May 2021 Published: 30 June 2021

Citation: Yuan P, Wang Y, Jin C, Wang D. Therapeutic effects of ulinastatin on postoperative complications and cognitive function in elderly patients with esophageal cancer after thoracic laparoscopic surgery. Trop J Pharm Res 2021; 20(6):1285-1291 doi: 10.4314/tjpr.v20i6.27

© 2021 The authors.
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Abstract

Purpose: To investigate the therapeutic effect of ulinastatin on postoperative complications and cognitive function in elderly patients with esophageal cancer after thoracic laparoscopic surgery.

Methods: A total of 100 elderly in-patients with esophageal cancer who had undergone thoracic laparoscopic surgery from April 2019 to December 2020 were selected and randomly assigned to control and study groups. Patients in control group received conventional treatment, while those in the study group were administered ulinastatin. The two groups were compared with respect to response, incidence of postoperative complications, Mini-Mental State Examination (MMSE) cognitive function score, Barthel Index (BI) scores; preoperative, intraoperative, 12-h and 24-h post-surgery levels of IL-1β and IL-6; levels of CD3⁺, CD4⁺ and CD8⁺, as well as duration of surgery and waking time.

Results: Response, MMSE score, BI index, and levels of CD3⁺, CD4⁺ and CD8⁺ in the study group were significantly higher than those in the control group (p < 0.05). Incidence of postoperative complications, and expression levels of IL-1β and IL-6 12 h and 24 h after surgery in the study group were lower than the corresponding control levels (p < 0.05). There were no significant differences in duration of operation and waking time between the two groups (p > 0.05).

Conclusion: Ulinastatin significantly reduces postoperative complications, and also improves cognitive function in elderly patients with esophageal cancer after thoracic laparoscopic surgery. This finding is of great significance in the treatment of these patients.

Keywords: Ulinastatin, Aged patients, Esophageal cancer, Thoracic laparoscopy, Cognitive function, Inflammatory cytokines