• Department of Anesthesiology, the First Affiliated Hospital, China Medical University, Shenyang 110001, China;
JIANGXiao-jing, Email: jiangsophie@hotmail.com
Export PDF Favorites Scan Get Citation

Objective To systematically review the efficacy of paravertebral block (PVB) versus thoracic epidural block (TEB) for post-thoracotomy analgesia. Methods We electronically searched databases including The Cochrane Library (Issue 9, 2013), PubMed, EMbase, Springer, CNKI, CBM, VIP and WanFang Data from 1980 to September 2013, to collect randomized controlled trials (RCTs) of PVB versus TEB for post-thoracotomy pain management. Two reviewers independently screened literature according to the inclusion and exclusion criteria, extracted data and assessed the methodological quality of included studies. Then, meta-analysis was performed using RevMan 5.2 software. Results Thirteen RCTs involving 608 patients were included. The results of meta-analysis showed that:the PVB group got higher VAS score at 48 h than the TEB group (WMD=-0.36, 95%CI -0.54 to -0.71), but more patients of the PVB group chosen remedial method to release pain in epidural than in paravertebral. In addition, there were no differences in VAS scores at 6 h and 24 h between two groups. As for the analgesia related complication:compared with the TEB group, the PVB group has lower rate of hypotension (RR=0.18, 95%CI 0.08 to 0.41), urinary retention (RR=0.24, 95%CI 0.11 to 0.54), nausea and vomiting (RR=0.42, 95%CI 0.25 to 0.70). There were no significant differences between two groups in postoperative pulmonary complication (RR=0.52, 95%CI 0.10 to 2.76), postoperative FEV1 level (WMD=2.93, 95%CI -4.52 to 10.38) and duration of hospital stay (WMD=-0.19, 95%CI -0.89 to 0.50). The PVB group had lower risk of chronic pain than that of the TEB group (RD=-0.12, 95%CI -0.23 to -0.01). Conclusion Current evidence shows PVB has the similar efficacy as TEB in post-thoracotomy pain management, with lower risk of analgesia related complication and lower risk of post-thoracotomy chronic pain. Due to limited quality and quantity of the included studies, more high quality and large-scale RCTs are needed to verify the above conclusion.

Citation: SHIZhen, LIJu-chen, JIANGXiao-jing. Paravertebral Block versus Epidural Block for Post-thoracotomy Analgesia: A Systematic Review. Chinese Journal of Evidence-Based Medicine, 2015, 15(5): 550-558. doi: 10.7507/1672-2531.20150092 Copy

  • Previous Article

    Effect of Chewing Gun on the Promotion of Intestinal Function Recovery after Colorectal Cancer Surgery: A Meta-analysis
  • Next Article

    Arthroscopic Double-bundle versus Single-bundle Posterior Cruciate Ligament Reconstruction: A Meta-analysis