Neurosurgical review
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Neurosurgical review · Oct 2018
Review Meta Analysis Comparative StudyComparison of equiosmolar hypertonic saline and mannitol for brain relaxation during craniotomies: A meta-analysis of randomized controlled trials.
There is a controversy about the effects of hypertonic saline (HS) used for brain relaxation in patients requiring craniotomies. We conducted a meta-analysis to compare the efficacy of equiosmolar hypertonic saline with mannitol on intraoperative brain relaxation in patients undergoing craniotomies. We searched PubMed, EMBASE, Cochrane Library databases, and Web of Science for randomized controlled trials (RCTs). ⋯ However, there were no significant differences in plasma osmolality and mean arterial pressure (MAP). Our results suggest that there appears to be better brain relaxation without a significant increase in urine volume in the HS group compared with mannitol in patients requiring craniotomies. High-quality RCTs with larger sample sizes will be required in the future to confirm the conclusions.