Effects of donepezil hydrochloride on postoperative cognition in senile patients

AIM: To investigate the effects of perioperative oral donepezil hydrochloride on postoperative cognition in the elderly. METHODS: One hundred patients aged 60 to 75 years old scheduled for laparoscopic cholecystectomy under general anesthesia were randomly assigned into two groups(n=50 per group): Control Group and Experimental Group.Patients were administered donepezil hydrochloride 5 mg or placebo orally at bedtime the day before surgery,surgery day and the day after surgery.A battery of 8 neuropsychological tests was performed the day before surgery and the second day after surgery.RESULTS:The scores of digit span backward test,symbol digit modalitied test,grooved pegboard test,trail making test(part A) and rey auditory verbal learning test at the second day after surgery decreased compared with the day before surgery in both groups(P0.05).The score of rey auditory verbal learning test in experimental group was better than that of control group at the second day after surgery(P0.05).The incidence of postoperative cognitive dysfunction(POCD) was 20.0% in the control group and 14.0% in the experimental group,which showed no significant difference between the two groups(P0.05).CONCLUSION: Oral medication of donepezil hydrochloride perioperatively may benefit for senile patients to prevent postoperative memory deteriorate,but the contribution to reduce the incidence of POCD may be limited.