Bupivacaine versus normal saline for relief of post-adenotonsillectomy pain in children: a meta-analysis.

OBJECTIVE: A meta-analysis was performed to explore the role of peri-operative bupivacaine infiltration in the relief of pain in adenotonsillectomy.

METHODS: Data from Medline, EMBase, Springer and the Cochrane Collaboration database were searched. Reference lists from identified publications were scanned. RevMan 5.0 software was used for statistical analysis.

RESULTS: 7 random controlled tests (a total of 286 cases) were included. Pain intensity was evaluated by VAS score or Cheops score. The pain of group bupivacaine (Group B) was less severe than group placebo (Group P). Analgesic requirement of Group B was less than Group P. Nevertheless the difference of complication between bupivacaine and placebo had no statistical difference.

CONCLUSION: Bupivacaine infiltration is a safe and effective method for relief of pediatric post-adenotonsillectomy pain.