Lin W, et al. - In this prospective, randomized, controlled trial run from January 10, 2019 to March 01, 2019, researchers assessed the inhibitory influence of pre-injection of a small dose of remifentanil on sufentanil-induced cough during the induction of general anesthesia. Participants were 84 patients undergoing elective surgery under general anesthesia, who were randomly allotted into two equal size groups (n = 42). An intravenous infusion of remifentanil 0.3 μg/kg (diluted to 2 ml) 1 min prior to sufentanil injection was administered to patients in the Remifentanil group (R group). At the same time point, they administered 2 ml of normal saline to patients in the Control group (C group). After completing the injections of patients in both groups within 5 s, they injected sufentanil 0.5 μg/kg within 5 s. They documented the number of coughs that happened within 1 min following sufentanil injection. Findings revealed the safety as well as the efficacy of pretreatment with a small dose of remifentanil for achieving an attenuated incidence and severity of cough induced by sufentanil during anesthesia induction. Moreover, this treatment strategy can serve as an alternative approach to inhibit sufentanil-induced cough.