Dextromethorphan reduced fentanyl induced cough and stress hormones release. A randomized double blind controlled study

Different interventions in preventing opioid-induced cough: a meta-analysis

BACKGROUND

Cough is one of the most common complications of opioids. Many studies have evaluated the effect of various drugs in preventing opioid-induced cough (OIC). However, there is existing controversy about those reports. The present study was performed to assess the efficacy of different interventions on OIC.

METHODS

We searched the Cochrane Central Register of Controlled Trials (CENTRAL), PubMed, and Embase to identify randomized controlled trials on the efficacy of different drugs in the prevention of OIC. Opioids included fentanyl, sufentanil, and remifentanil. We mainly investigated the incidence and severity of OIC after different interventions.

RESULTS

Thirty-four trials including 9906 patients were analyzed in this study. Twenty different drugs were reported, and 10 drugs were indentified in more than 2 articles. These drugs, including lidocaine, ketamine, dexmedetomidine, priming of fentanyl, propofol, dezocine, dexamethasone, dextromethorphan, and magnesium sulfate (MgSO4), showed a significant efficacy compared with controls. There were insufficient numbers of trials for salbutamol, clonidine, tramadol, pentazocine, rocuronium, midazolam, atropine, terbutaline, sodium chromoglycate, beclomethasone, and ephedrine. From these data, we found that salbutamol, tramadol, midazolam, and atropine were ineffective.

CONCLUSIONS

This meta-analysis suggested that the prophylactic administration of lidocaine, ketamine, dexmedetomidine, priming of fentanyl, propofol, and dezocine was effective in preventing OIC.

Pharmacological and nonpharmacological prevention of fentanyl-induced cough: a meta-analysis

Fentanyl-induced cough (FIC) is often observed after intravenous bolus administration of fentanyl during anesthesia induction. This meta-analysis assessed the efficacy of pharmacological and nonpharmacological interventions to reduce the incidence of FIC. We searched for randomized controlled trials comparing pharmacological or nonpharmacological interventions with controls to prevent FIC; we included 28 studies retrieved from Pub-Med, Embase, and Cochrane Library. Overall incidence of FIC was approximately 31 %. Lidocaine [odds ratio (OR) = 0.29, 95 % confidence interval (CI) 0.21–0.39], N-methyl-D-aspartate (NMDA) receptor antagonists (OR 0.09, 95 % CI 0.02–0.42), propofol (OR 0.07, 95 % CI 0.01–0.36), a2 agonists (OR 0.32, 95 % CI 0.21–0.48), b2 agonists (OR 0.10, 95 % CI 0.03–0.30), fentanyl priming (OR 0.33, 95 % CI 0.19–0.56), and slow injection of fentanyl (OR 0.25, 95 % CI 0.11–0.58)] were effective in decreasing the incidence of FIC, whereas atropine (OR 1.10, 95 % CI 0.58–2.11) and benzodiazepines (OR 2.04, 95 % CI 1.33–3.13) were not effective. This meta-analysis found that lidocaine, NMDA receptor antagonists, propofol, a2 agonists, b2 agonists, and priming dose of fentanyl were effective in preventing FIC, but atropine and benzodiazepines were not. Slow injection of fentanyl was effective in preventing FIC, but results depend on the speed of administration.