• Michele Carron, Enrico Tamburini, Federico Linassi, Tommaso Pettenuzzo, Annalisa Boscolo, and Paolo Navalesi.
• Department of Medicine - DIMED, Section of Anaesthesiology and Intensive Care, University of Padova, Padova, Italy; Institute of Anaesthesia and Intensive Care, Padua University Hospital, Padova, Italy. Electronic address: michele.carron@unipd.it.
• Br J Anaesth. 2024 Dec 1; 133 (6): 123412491234-1249.

BackgroundManaging postoperative pain in patients with obesity is challenging. Although multimodal analgesia has proved effective for pain relief, the specific impacts of different nonopioid i.v. analgesics and adjuvants on these patients are not well-defined. This study aims to assess the effectiveness of nonsteroidal antiinflammatory drugs, paracetamol, ketamine, α-2 adrenergic receptor agonists, lidocaine, magnesium, and oral gabapentinoids in reducing perioperative opioid consumption and, secondarily, in mitigating the occurrence of general and postoperative pulmonary complications (POPCs), nausea, vomiting, PACU length of stay (LOS), and hospital LOS among surgical patients with obesity.MethodsA systematic review and network meta-analysis was performed. PubMed, Scopus, Web of Science, CINAHL, and EMBASE were searched. Only English-language RCTs investigating the use of nonopioid analgesics and adjuvants in adult surgical patients with obesity were included. The quality of evidence and certainty were assessed using the RoB 2 tool and GRADE framework, respectively.ResultsIn total, 37 RCTs involving 3602 patients were included in the quantitative analysis. Compared with placebo/no intervention or a comparator, dexmedetomidine, ketamine, lidocaine, magnesium, and gabapentin significantly reduced postoperative opioid consumption after surgery. Ketamine/esketamine also significantly reduced POPCs. Ibuprofen, dexmedetomidine, and lidocaine significantly reduced postoperative nausea, whereas dexmedetomidine, either alone or combined with pregabalin, and lidocaine reduced postoperative vomiting. Dexmedetomidine significantly reduced PACU LOS, whereas both paracetamol and lidocaine reduced hospital LOS.ConclusionsIntravenous nonopioid analgesics and adjuvants are crucial in multimodal anaesthesia, reducing opioid consumption and enhancing postoperative care in adult surgical patients with obesity.Systematic Review ProtocolCRD42023399373 (PROSPERO).Copyright © 2024 The Authors. Published by Elsevier Ltd.. All rights reserved.

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