Efficacy and safety of sevoflurane vs propofol in combination with remifentanil for anesthesia maintenance during craniotomy: A meta-analysis.

BACKGROUND

The purpose of this study was to evaluate the efficacy and safety of sevoflurane-remifentanil (SR) vs propofol-remifentanil (PR) as inhalation anesthesia or total intravenous anesthesia in patients undergoing craniotomy, respectively.

METHODS

Electronic databases included PubMed, ScienceDirect, Embase, Cochrane library, CNKI, and Wanfang data were searched using suitable search items. Randomized clinical controlled trials comparing the combination of SR and PR as anesthetics for neurosurgery were included. The outcomes included wake-up time, spontaneous respiration time, extubation time, and safety.

RESULTS

Seventeen studies were included in this meta-analysis. There were no statistically significant differences in wake-up time (P = .25, standardized mean difference (SMD) = 0.29, 95% CI -0.20 to 0.77), extubation time (P = .1, SMD = 0.52, 95% CI -0.11 to 1.14) and spontaneous respiration time (P = .58, SMD = 0.43, 95% CI -1.07 to 1.93) when patients with SF and PF for anesthesia maintenance. Moreover, the changes of hemodynamic parameters are similar between the 2 groups. During anesthesia maintenance, SF could significantly increase the incidence of hypotension and brain edema than PF (P = .02, SMD = 1.68, 95% CI 1.07 to 2.62; P < .0001, SMD = 3.37, 95% CI 1.86 to 6.12), PF markedly promoted the incidence of hypertension (P = .001, SMD = 0.55, 95% CI 0.39 to 0.79). The postoperative adverse reactions were similar between the 2 groups (P > .05), but the incidence of postoperative nausea and vomiting proved to be higher in SF group (P < .0001, SMD = 2.12, 95% CI 1.47 to 3.07).

CONCLUSIONS

SR and PR as anesthetics in patients underwent craniotomy had similar effects, but PR was superior to SR in terms of safety of intraoperation and postoperation.