Epidural Analgesia Versus Systemic Opioids for Postoperative Pain Management After VATS: A Systematic Review and Meta-Analysis.

ABSTRACT:

Background

Firm consensus on the best perioperative pain management after Video-Assisted Thoracic Surgery (VATS) is lacking. Recommendations often assess different loco-regional techniques as part of a multimodal approach, but few discuss omitting regional analgesia altogether, eliminating any risk of procedural complications. A reasonable prerequisite for this approach would be that the alternative provides comparable pain relief. To compare the efficacy of systemic opioids and epidural analgesia for postoperative pain management, we conducted a systematic review and meta-analysis of current studies.

Methods

We did a systematic review and meta-analysis of randomized controlled trials (RCTs) and observational studies on VATS with the primary objective of examining postoperat

SUBMITTER: Holm JH 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC12427149 | biostudies-literature | 2025 Oct

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature