Effect of bilateral superficial cervical plexus block on postoperative pain, nausea, and vomiting in thyroid surgery: a systematic review and meta-analysis

Bilateral superficial cervical plexus block (BSCPB) is widely used in thyroid surgery.

However, its ability to reduce patients’ perioperative pain remains controversial.

Therefore, this study aimed to investigate the value of using BSCPB perioperatively for thyroid surgery by conducting a systematic review and meta-analysis of relevant clinical studies.

In this systematic review and meta-analysis, we conducted comprehensive searches in the PubMed, Embase, and Cochrane Library databases to collect all randomized controlled trials (RCTs) that used BSCPB for thyroid surgery.

The included studies were then analyzed for heterogeneity using the chi-square test, and studies with large heterogeneity were subjected to subgroup or sensitivity analyses.

Treatment effects were measured using odds ratio (OR) or weighted mean difference (WMD) and 95% confidence interval (CI).

A total of 19 RCTs with 1,365 patients who underwent thyroid surgery (713 and 652 patients in the BSCPB and control groups, respectively) were included in this systematic review.

Most of the studies reported that cervical plexus blocks were used preoperatively, and the main drugs used were 0.25–0.75% ropivacaine or bupivacaine.

The BSCPB procedure could significantly reduce visual analog scale scores in the immediate (WMD: −1.12, 95% CI : −1.51 to −0.73, P  <  0.00001 ), 6-h (WMD: −1.06, 95%  CI : −1.60 to −0.53,  P  =  0.0001 ) and 24-h (WMD: −0.87, 95% CI : −1.29 to −0.45, P  <  0.0001 ) postoperative period and also reduce opioid requirements for patients in the post-anesthesia care unit (50.99% vs 72.92%, OR: 0.3, 95% CI : 0.17 to 0.52, P  <  0.0001 ) and in the wards (39.80% vs 59.79%, OR: 0.27, 95% CI : 0.12 to 0.59, P  =  0.001 ).

Additionally, BSCPB reduced the incidence of postoperative nausea and vomiting (OR: 0.50, 95%  CI : 0.29 to 0.87, P  =  0.01 ).

Due to the large heterogeneity, the results only suggest decrease use of intraoperative fentanyl and postoperative morphine in the BSCPB group.

The use of BSCPB alleviates of postoperative pain, opioid requirement, and reduces incidence of postoperative nausea and vomiting in patients who have undergone thyroid surgery.

More clinical studies are needed for further conclusions.