• Benjamin L Olesnicky, Clare Farrell, Phoebe Clare, Shelly Wen, Kate Leslie, and Anthony Delaney.
• Department of Anaesthesia, Pain and Perioperative Medicine, Royal North Shore Hospital, Sydney, NSW, Australia; Northern Clinical School of Medicine, The University of Sydney, Sydney, NSW, Australia; Northern Sydney Anaesthetic Research Institute, Sydney, NSW, Australia. Electronic address: Benjamin.Olesnicky@health.nsw.gov.au.
• Br J Anaesth. 2024 Jan 1; 132 (1): 107115107-115.

BackgroundResidual neuromuscular block is associated with increased patient morbidity. Therefore prevention of residual neuromuscular block is an important component of general anaesthesia where neuromuscular blocking agents are used. Whereas sugammadex improves reversal based on neuromuscular twitch monitoring parameters, there have been no prospective, adequately powered definitive studies demonstrating that sugammadex is also associated with less patient morbidity.MethodsWe performed a systematic review of randomised trials comparing sugammadex with anticholinesterase-based reversal or placebo reversal that reported important patient outcomes beyond the postanaesthesia care unit.ResultsWe identified 43 articles, including 5839 trial participants. Only one trial reported days alive and out of hospital to 30 days (DAOH-30), which showed that the number of DAOH-30 was similar in those allocated to sugammadex compared with neostigmine-based reversal (25 days [19-27] vs 24 days [21-27], median difference 0.00 [-2.15 to 2.15]). Pooled analyses of data from 16 trials showed an estimated odds ratio (OR) for postoperative pulmonary complications of 0.67 (95% confidence interval 0.47-0.95) with sugammadex use. Pooled analysis showed that pneumonia (eight trials OR 0.51 [0.24-1.01] with sugammadex use), hospital length of stay (23 trials, mean difference -0.31 [-0.84 to 0.22] with sugammadex use), and patient-reported quality of recovery (11 trials, varied depending on metric used) are similar in those allocated to sugammadex vs control. The difference seen in mortality (11 trials, OR 0.39 [0.15-1.01] with sugammadex use) would be considered to be clinically significant and warrants further investigation, however, the rarity of these events precludes drawing definitive conclusions.ConclusionAlthough few trials reported on DAOH-30 or important patient outcomes, sugammadex is associated with a reduction in postoperative pulmonary complications, however, this might not translate to a difference in hospital length of stay, patient-reported quality of recovery, or mortality.Clinical Trial RegistrationPROSPERO database (CRD42022325858).Copyright © 2023 British Journal of Anaesthesia. All rights reserved.

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