This randomized controlled trial evaluates postoperative quality of recovery assessed with the Quality of Recovery-15 questionnaire in adult patients undergoing elective major urological surgery under opioid-free versus opioid-based general anesthesia.
Opioid-free anesthesia is a multimodal anesthetic technique that avoids intraoperative opioids by combining non-opioid analgesic and sympatholytic agents such as dexmedetomidine, ketamine, lidocaine, non-steroidal anti-inflammatory drugs, and regional analgesia. Opioid-based general anesthesia in this trial includes intraoperative remifentanil infusion.
Participants will undergo elective urological surgery, including laparoscopic nephrectomy, robotic nephrectomy, laparoscopic prostatectomy, robotic prostatectomy, laparoscopic cystectomy, or robotic cystectomy.
The primary objective is to compare patient-reported quality of recovery between the opioid-free anesthesia group and the remifentanil-based anesthesia group using the Quality of Recovery-15 questionnaire. QoR-15 will be assessed before surgery and on postoperative day 7.
Secondary objectives include total postoperative oxycodone dose administered via patient-controlled analgesia during the first 24 hours after surgery, postoperative pain intensity measured using the Numeric Rating Scale at 1, 2, 6, 12, and 24 hours after surgery, incidence of postoperative nausea and vomiting, change in serum creatinine from baseline to postoperative day 1, change in white blood cell count from baseline to postoperative day 1, and the ratio of demanded to delivered PCA boluses.
Pre-specified subgroup analyses will compare outcomes according to surgical procedure type: laparoscopic nephrectomy, robotic nephrectomy, laparoscopic prostatectomy, robotic prostatectomy, laparoscopic cystectomy, and robotic cystectomy. Subgroup-by-treatment interaction tests will be performed.
Planned enrollment is approximately 600 patients, with 300 patients per treatment arm. The primary patient-reported recovery endpoint will be assessed on postoperative day 7, while analgesic, pain, and early postoperative safety outcomes will be assessed during the first 24 hours after surgery.