Objective To evaluate the efficacy and safety of COX inhibitor flurbiprofen axetil in relieving propofol injection pain and preemptive analgesia after general anesthesia. Methods Databases such as PubMed, CBM, Springer, Ovid, CNKI and ISI were searched to identify randomized controlled trials (RCTs) about flurbiprofen axetil in relieving propofol injection pain and preemptive analgesia after general anesthesia published from 2000 to 2010. The methodological quality of the included RCTs was assessed and the data were extracted according to the Cochrane Handbook 5.0.1. Meta-analysis was performed by using RevMan 4.2.10 software. Results A total of 15 RCTs involving 1 425 patients were included. The results of meta-analyses showed that: a) Relieving propofol injection pain: Compared with the placebo group, flurbiprofen axetil could prevent the propofol injection pain (RR=3.13, 95%CI 1.08 to 9.11, P=0.04), and relieve the moderate and severe pain in injecting propofol (RR=0.57, 95%CI 0.40 to 0.81, P=0.002; RR=0.14, 95%CI 0.05 to 0.34, Plt;0.000 1, respectively), but there were no significant differences in relieving mild pain between the two groups; b) Preemptive analgesia: the visual analog scale (VAS) of post-operation at 2-hour (WMD= –2.25, 95%CI –4.20 to –0.29, P=0.02), 4-hour (WMD= –1.99, 95%CI –3.19 to –0.79, P=0.001), 8-hour (WMD= –1.39, 95%CI –1.86 to –0.93, Plt;0.000 01) and 12-hour (WMD= –2.70, 95%CI –4.73 to –0.68, P=0.009) was decreased when flurbiprofen axetil was injected before the operation, but there were no significant differences in VAS of post-operation at 48-hour between the two groups. When flurbiprofen axetil was injected at the end of the operation, VAS of post-operation at 12-hour (WMD= –0.94, 95%CI –1.73 to –0.16, P=0.02) was decreased, but there were no significant differences in VAS of post-operation at 24-hour between the two groups; flurbiprofen axetil could lessen the need for opioid analgesics (RR=0.47, 95%CI 0.27 to 0.82, P=0.008); and c) Safety: there were no significant differences in postoperative nausea, vomit and somnolence between the two groups. Conclusion Flurbiprofen axetil can significantly prevent or relieve the propofol injection pain; flurbiprofen axetil injected before operation can relieve post-operative pain at 2-, 4-, 8- and 12-hour; flurbiprofen axetil injected at the end of the operation can relieve post-operative pain at 12-hour. Yet more RCTs are required to discuss its effects on nausea, vomit and somnolence.
Objective To systematically evaluate the effects of magnesium sulfate on postoperative pain and complications after general anesthesia. Methods A literature search was conducted in following databases as The Cochrane Library, EMbase, PubMed, EBSCO, Springer, Ovid, CNKI and CBM from the date of establishment to September 2011 to identify randomized controlled trials (RCTs) about intravenous infusion of magnesium sulfate during general anesthesia. All included RCTs were assessed and the data were extracted according to the standard of Cochrane systematic review. The homogenous studies were pooled using RevMan 5.1 software. Results A total of 11 RCTs involving 905 patients were included. The results of meta-analyses showed that compared with the control group, intravenous infusion of magnesium sulfate during general anesthesia significantly reduced the visual analog scale (VAS) scores at the time-points of 2, 4, 6, 8, 16, and 24 hours, respectively, after surgery, the postoperative 24 hours morphine requirements, and the incidents of postoperative nausea and vomiting (RR=0.61, 95%CI 0.40 to 0.91, P=0.02) and chilling (RR=0.29, 95%CI 0.14 to 0.59, P=0.000 7). Although the incidents of bradycardia (RR=1.93, 95%CI 1.05 to 3.53, P=0.03) increased, there were no adverse events or significant differences in the incidents of hypotension and serum concentration changes of magnesium. Conclusion Intravenous infusion of magnesium sulfate during general anesthesia may obviously decrease the pain intensity, and the incidents of nausea and vomiting and chilling after surgery, without increasing cardiovascular adverse events and risk of hypermagnesemia. The results still need to be confirmed by more high-quality and large-sample RCTs.