Table 1 Summary of RCTs included in the meta-analysis
First author/Year of publication | No. of subjects | Surgery type | CABG technology | TEA continued postoperatively | TEA | Perioperative management of TEA | Primary endpoint? | POAF | Study design/Jadad score | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
TEA + GA | GA | |||||||||
Jidéus/2001 [15] | 121 | elective CABG | CPB | Unclear | T2-T5, the day before surgery | Intraoperative: bupivacaine 5 mg/mL, with an infusion rate of 4 to 8 mL/h. Postoperative: continuous infusion of bupivacaine (2 mg/mL) and sufentanil (1 mg/mL) epidurally (3 to 7 mL/h) | Yes | 13/41 | 29/80 | RCT/2 |
Nygard/2004 [16] | 163 | elective CABG | CPB | 4 days | T1-T3, the day before surgery | Intraoperative and postoperative : bolus doses of 4 mL of bupivacaine, 5 mg/mL, given hourly | Yes | 28/79 | 25/84 | RCT/3 |
Bakhtiary/2007 [17] | 132 | elective CABG | OPCAB | 3 days | T1-T3, the day before surgery | Preoperative and postoperative: continuous infusion with ropivacaine 0.16 % and sufentanil 1 g/mL at an hourly rate of 2 to 5 mL was started after a bolus dose of 6 mL | Yes | 2/66 | 18/66 | RCT/2 |
Tenenbein/2008 [18] | 50 | elective or semi-elective CABG | CPB | 2 days | T2-T5, at least four hours prior to systemic heparinization | Intraoperative: 5-mL bolus of 0.75% ropivacaine and 200 μg of hydromorphone in the epidural catheter, followed by infusion of 0.75 % ropivacaine at 5 mL/h. Postoperative: continuous infusion lasting 48 h and consisting of 0.2 % ropivacaine, with 15 μg/mL of hydromorphone titrated. | No | 6/25 | 9/25 | RCT/3 |
Caputo/2009 [19] | 74 | elective CABG | OPCAB | 3 days | T2-T4, before induction of anesthesia | Intraoperative and postoperative: continuous infusion of 0.125 % bupivacaine and 0.0003 % clonidine (150 g in 500 mL) at an initial rate of 10 mL/h | No | 7/36 | 18/38 | RCT/3 |