Effects of Multimodal General Anesthesia for Older Patients Undergoing Lumbar Spine Fusion Surgery: a Randomized Controlled Trial

Multimodal general anesthesia has been proposed in recent years. By administration of multiple agents acting on a different component of the nociceptive pathways, the multimodal general anesthesia may elicit maximal anesthetic effects with minimal anesthetic dose. These may be beneficial to improve postoperative recovery and reduce adverse effects such as postoperative delirium and perioperative neurocognitive impairment. It is not uncommon that elder patients undergoing lumbar spine fusion surgery suffer from postoperative poor recovery, postoperative delirium as well as the postoperative neurocognitive disorder. Therefore, this study aims to explore the potential effects of multimodal general anesthesia, which comprised with electroencephalography density spectrum array guided co-administration of sevoflurane, ketamine and dexmedetomidine, on the postoperative recovery profiles for elder patients undergoing lumbar spine fusion surgery.