OBJECTIVETo investigate the effect and the mechanism of Shenfu injection (SFI) on the resuscitation from general anesthesia.

METHODSForty patients who received selective abdominal surgery with general anesthesia for 3-4 hrs and ASA grade I-II were divided into two groups, the trial group and the control group, 20 patients in each group. After being sent into the postanesthesia care unit (PACU), the trial group was treated with intravenous dripping of SFI 1.0 ml/kg and the control group was treated with intravenous dripping of equal volume of normal saline. All patients were observed in double blindly manner, the self ventilation recovery time, extubation time, the time of leaving PACU and their Glasgow coma scale (GCS) were recorded and compared. 2 ml of peripheral venous blood were taken to determine the plasma beta-endorphin (beta-EP) content at the time points of before (T1), 5 min (T2), 15 min (T3) and 30 min (T4) after dripping.

RESULTSThe self ventilation recovery time, extubation time and time of leaving PACU in the trial group were all shorter than those in the control group (P < 0.01), the GCS in the trial group was better than that in the control group (P < 0.01). The plasma content of beta-EP raised gradually along the recovering of patients consciousness, as compared with the content before dripping (T1), it showed insignificant difference at time point T2 but significant difference at T3 and T4 comparison at the corresponding time point showed that the content at T1 and T2 were similar in the two groups (P > 0.05), but at T3 and T4, the content was higher in the trial group than that in the control group respectively (P < 0.01).

CONCLUSIONSFI could accelerate the resuscitation after general anesthesia, the mechanism may be related with its action in raising plasma beta-EP level.