Meta-Analysis
Copyright ©The Author(s) 2022. Published by Baishideng Publishing Group Inc. All rights reserved.
World J Clin Cases. Feb 26, 2022; 10(6): 1852-1862
Published online Feb 26, 2022. doi: 10.12998/wjcc.v10.i6.1852
Impact of adding opioids to paravertebral blocks in breast cancer surgery patients: A systematic review and meta-analysis
Meng-Hua Chen, Zheng Chen, Da Zhao
Meng-Hua Chen, Lanzhou University Medical College, Lanzhou 730000, Gansu Province, China
Zheng Chen, Department of Breast, Shandong Second Provincial General Hospital, Jinan 250021, Shandong Province, China
Da Zhao, Department of Oncology, The First Hospital of Lanzhou University, Lanzhou 730000, Gansu Province, China
Author contributions: Chen MH conceived and designed the study, analyzed the data, and wrote the paper; Chen Z and Zhao D were involved in literature search and data collection and reviewed and edited the manuscript; all authors read and approved the final manuscript.
Conflict-of-interest statement: The authors deny any conflict of interest.
PRISMA 2009 Checklist statement: The authors have read the PRISMA 2009 Checklist, and manuscript was prepared and revised according to the PRISMA 2009 Checklist.
Open-Access: This article is an open-access article that was selected by an in-house editor and fully peer-reviewed by external reviewers. It is distributed in accordance with the Creative Commons Attribution NonCommercial (CC BY-NC 4.0) license, which permits others to distribute, remix, adapt, build upon this work non-commercially, and license their derivative works on different terms, provided the original work is properly cited and the use is non-commercial. See: http://creativecommons.org/Licenses/by-nc/4.0/
Corresponding author: Da Zhao, MD, Doctor, Department of Oncology, The First Hospital of Lanzhou University, No. 1 Donggang West Road, Lanzhou 730000, Gansu Province, China. zhaoda_dr@163.com
Received: July 19, 2021
Peer-review started: July 19, 2021
First decision: October 16, 2021
Revised: October 21, 2021
Accepted: January 19, 2022
Article in press: January 19, 2022
Published online: February 26, 2022
Core Tip

Core Tip: The use of opioids as adjuvants for nerve blocks has been increasing. However, it is not clear if the addition of opioids to paravertebral block (PVB) improves outcomes for breast cancer surgery patients. In our first systematic review and meta-analysis, we pooled data from six randomized controlled trials assessing the role of adjuvant opioids for PVB in patients undergoing breast cancer surgery. Our results indicate that the addition of opioids to PVB has a limited role in reducing 24-h analgesic consumption, time to first analgesic request, and pain scores as compared to placebo. Further high-quality studies are required to strengthen the evidence.