Objective: To investigate the changes in postoperative immune function, analgesic effect, and stress response in patients with rib fractures undergoing erector spinae muscle plane block (ESPB) with ropivacaine combine with dexmedetomidine. Method: A total of 104 patients with rib fractures who were admitted to our hospital from June 2022 to June 2023 were randomly divided into observation group and control group, with 52 patients in each group. Both groups of patients underwent operative treatment, the control group received ropivacaine ESPB analgesia and observation group received dexmedetomidine combined with ropivacaine ESPB analgesia. The postoperative analgesic effects, cognitive function scores, serum stress response indicators, immune function and adverse reactions were compared between two groups. Result: Compared with control group at 1h, 3h, 6h, 12h and 24h after operation, the observation group had lower Visual Analog Scale (VAS) scores in active and resting states, and higher scores in Mini Mental State Examination (MMSE) (P<0.05). Compared with control group 24h after operation, the observation group had higher levels of serum cortisol (Cor), norepinephrine (NE), epinephrine (E), CD4+, CD3+, CD4+/CD8+, and lower levels of CD8+(P<0.05). There was no statistically significant difference in the incidence of adverse reactions between the two groups (P>0.05). Conclusion: The combination of dexmedetomidine and ropivacaine ESPB has a good analgesic effect on patients with rib fractures after surgery, improves their cognitive function, immune function, and stress response levels, and has good treatment safety. |