Yang WL, Zhou XY, Jiang WC, Zhang XJ, Zhou D. Opioid analgesics for sedation-based gastrointestinal endoscopy. World J Gastrointest Pharmacol Ther 2025; 16(2): 102098 [DOI: 10.4292/wjgpt.v16.i2.102098]
Corresponding Author of This Article
Wei-Lin Yang, MD, Chief Physician, Department of Anesthesiology, Deyang People’s Hospital, No. 173 North Taishan Road, Deyang 618000, Sichuan Province, China. ywl20100801@126.com
Research Domain of This Article
Anesthesiology
Article-Type of This Article
Minireviews
Open-Access Policy of This Article
This article is an open-access article which was selected by an in-house editor and fully peer-reviewed by external reviewers. It is distributed in accordance with the Creative Commons Attribution Non Commercial (CC BY-NC 4.0) license, which permits others to distribute, remix, adapt, build upon this work non-commercially, and license their derivative works on different terms, provided the original work is properly cited and the use is non-commercial. See: http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0/
World J Gastrointest Pharmacol Ther. Jun 5, 2025; 16(2): 102098 Published online Jun 5, 2025. doi: 10.4292/wjgpt.v16.i2.102098
Opioid analgesics for sedation-based gastrointestinal endoscopy
Wei-Lin Yang, Xin-Yu Zhou, Wen-Cai Jiang, Xian-Jie Zhang, Dan Zhou
Wei-Lin Yang, Xin-Yu Zhou, Wen-Cai Jiang, Xian-Jie Zhang, Dan Zhou, Department of Anesthesiology, Deyang People’s Hospital, Deyang 618000, Sichuan Province, China
Wei-Lin Yang, Graduate School, Chengdu University of Traditional Chinese Medicine, Chengdu 611137, Sichuan Province, China
Xin-Yu Zhou, Graduate School, Chengdu Medical College, Chengdu 610500, Sichuan Province, China
Co-corresponding authors: Wei-Lin Yang and Dan Zhou.
Author contributions: Yang WL and Zhou D conceived and designed the study; all authors participated in collecting the literature and drafting the manuscript, revised and approved the final manuscript to be published.
Supported by Wu Jieping Foundation, No. 320.6750.2024-05-55.
Conflict-of-interest statement: The authors declare no conflict of interest.
Open Access: This article is an open-access article that was selected by an in-house editor and fully peer-reviewed by external reviewers. It is distributed in accordance with the Creative Commons Attribution NonCommercial (CC BY-NC 4.0) license, which permits others to distribute, remix, adapt, build upon this work non-commercially, and license their derivative works on different terms, provided the original work is properly cited and the use is non-commercial. See: https://creativecommons.org/Licenses/by-nc/4.0/
Corresponding author: Wei-Lin Yang, MD, Chief Physician, Department of Anesthesiology, Deyang People’s Hospital, No. 173 North Taishan Road, Deyang 618000, Sichuan Province, China. ywl20100801@126.com
Received: October 8, 2024 Revised: January 13, 2025 Accepted: March 4, 2025 Published online: June 5, 2025 Processing time: 237 Days and 20.5 Hours
Abstract
Gastrointestinal endoscopy is a common examination for digestive system. The stimulation of endoscope often causes cough, nausea and vomiting, increased heart rate and blood pressure, arrhythmia, and even cardiovascular and cerebrovascular accidents, thus makes people fear of this procedure. Sedation or anesthesia can effectively improve the safety, comfort and quality of gastrointestinal endoscopy. A small dose of opioids is a good adjuvant to sedatives. In this narrative review, we summarized the main roles of opioid analgesics in gastrointestinal endoscopy, including reducing visceral pain, throat irritation and the dose of sedatives. Moreover, the frequently used and novel opioids are reviewed. Classic fentanyl, sufentanil and dezocine are preferable by anesthesiologists. Newly approved oliceridine is promising to render ideal analgesic effects for gastrointestinal endoscopy. Clinical studies on oliceridine in endoscopic procedures are urgently needed.
Core Tip: Safety, comfort and quality of gastrointestinal endoscopy are the concerns for both patients and doctors. Low-dose synthetic opioids play an important role in this procedure. In China, fentanyl, sufentanil and dezocine are the top three choices. Oliceridine should be paid more attention when performing related studies.
