Objective To investigate the effects of target control infusion of oxycodone combined with etomidate on hemodynamic indicators as compared with sufentanil combined with etomidate during general anesthesia induction in the elderly patients with emergency intestinal obstruction. Methods A total of 120 patients (aged 65-85 years, ASA classification Ⅰ-Ⅲ) were selected for the study, who underwent emergency surgery under general anesthesia for acute intestinal obstruction in the Second Affiliated Hospital of Xi′an Jiaotong University. The patients were randomly divided into oxycodone-etomidate group (OE group, n=60) and sufentanil-etomidate group (SE group, n=60). All the patients were monitored for the invasive arterial blood pressure, the ultrasonic cardiac output, and the muscle relaxation. Patients in the OE group were intravenously administrated with 0.4mg/kg oxycodone, 1.5 mg/kg cisatracurium, followed by infusion with etomidate (target plasma concentration 0.5 μg/ml, Arden model), and in the SE group with 0.4 μg/kg sufentanil and 1.5 mg/kg cisatracurium followed by infusion with etomidate (target plasma concentration 0.5 μg/ml, Arden model). Systolic blood pressure (SBP), diastolic blood pressure (DBP), mean arterial pressure (MAP), heart rate (HR), harmful stimulation index (ANI), electrical background double-frequency index (BIS), cardiac index (CI), stroke volume (SV), peripheral vascularresistance index (SVRI) were recorded immediately before general anesthesia (T0), immediately before intubation (T1), immediately after intubation (T2), 10 minutes after intubation (T3), immediately before skin incision (T4) and immediately after skin incision (T5). Results There was no significant difference in HR, SBP, DBP, MAP, ANI, CI, SV or SVRI between the two groups at T0 (P>0.05). At T1, the SE group showed lower CI, SV, SVRI, SBP, MAP and DBP than the OE group (P<0.05). At T2, the SE group showed higher HR and SBP, but lower CI, SV and SVRI than the OE group (P<0.05), At T3 and T4, CI, SV, SVRI, HR, SBP, DBP and MAP were lower in the SE group than the OE group (P<0.05). At T5, the SE group showed lower CI, SV and SVRI than the OE group (P<0.05). Noticeably, the SE group showed lower ANI at T2 and T5 than the OE group (P<0.05). There was no significant difference in BIS between the two groups at any time points (P>0.05). Conclusion Target control infusion of oxycodone in combination with etomidate achieved satisfactory sedation depth and analgesia in the elderly patients with intestinal obstruction in response to the stimuli induced by endotracheal intubation and skin incision with more smooth hemodynamic alteration.