The analgesic effect of erector spinae plane block in thoracic surgery: a systematic review and meta-analysis of randomized controlled trials

Abstract

The erector spinae plane block (ESPB) is a new analgesic technology that came out for the first time in 2016. Some studies have shown that it can provide effective analgesia in thoracic surgery. This systematic review and meta-analysis is to evaluate the analgesic effect of ESPB in patients undergoing thoracic surgery. Embase, PubMed, The Cochrane Library, VIP database, CNKI, Wanfang database, CBM, were systematically searched, from 2010 to December, 2020. Randomised controlled trials (RCTs) were included to assess the analgesic effect of the ESPB in thoracic surgery. Eighteen studies with a total of 1303 patients were included. ESPB group reduced postoperative 48-hour pain scores at rest or movement at different time points compared with the control group. ESPB group also showed lower incidence of postoperative nausea and vomiting (PONV) (odds ratio, OR = 0.48, 95% CI = 0.33 0.71, P < 0.05). ESPB group were better at the number of patient-controlled intravenous analgesia (PCIA) pressing times (mean difference, MD = −6.83, 95% CI = −8.73 −4.94, P < 0.05). This review has shown that compared with simple general anesthesia (GA), GA combined with ESPB significantly decreases postoperative pain, PONV and opioids requirements following thoracic surgery.