• The Korean Journal of Pain
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• v.28 no.3
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• pp.198-202
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• 2015

Background: Lack of proper control of acute postoperative pain often leads to lingering or chronic pain. Several studies have emphasized the role of beta-blockers in reducing postoperative pain. Esmolol is a selective short-acting beta-blocker that produces few side effects. The purpose of this study was to examine the effect of intravenous intraoperative esmolol on postoperative pain reduction following orthopedic leg fracture surgery. Methods: In a clinical trial, 82 patients between 20-65 years of age with tibia fractures and American Society of Anesthesiologists (ASA) physical status I & II who underwent surgery were divided into two groups. Group A received esmolol and group B received normal saline. Postoperative pain was measured at three time points: entering the recovery unit, and at 3 h and 6 h following surgery, using the Visual Analogue Scale (VAS). A P value of < 0.05 was considered significant. Results: Mean VAS scores at all three time points were significantly different between the two test groups (P = 0.02, P = 0.0001, and P = 0.0001, respectively). The consumption of pethidine was lower in group A than in group B (P = 0.004) and the duration of its effect was significantly longer in time (P = 0.026). Conclusions: Intravenous intraoperative esmolol is effective in the reduction of postoperative pain following leg fracture surgery. It reduced opioid consumption following surgery and delayed patient requests for analgesics.

• Journal of Ginseng Research
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• v.31 no.4
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• pp.217-221
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• 2007

Ginseng has been widely used for the management of anxiety and emotional instability, but there is little experimental evidence supporting these clinical applications. The anxiolytic-like effect of ginseng saponin and polysaccharide fractions of white (WG) and red ginsengs (RG) was investigated using the elevated plus-maze test. The saponin (SF) and polysaccharide (PF) fractions were orally administered to male ICR mice for 3 days and behavioral test for the anxiolytic activity were performed. SF significantly increased the time-spent open arms and number into the in the open arm entries. However, PF weakly increased the time-spent in the open arms, but did not increase number into the open ann entries. The WG showed more potent anxiolytic-like effect than that of RG. The anxiolytic-like activities were antagonized by flumazenil, but not by esmolol. These findings suggest the saponin fractions of WG and RG promote the anxiolytic-like activity by antagonizing GABN/benzodiazepine receptors in mice.