Comparison between lornoxicam quick-release and parecoxib for post-operative analgesia after laparoscopic cholecystectomy: A prospective randomized, placebo-controlled trial

Risks of serious adverse events with non-steroidal anti-inflammatory drugs in gastrointestinal surgery: A systematic review with meta-analysis and trial sequential analysis

BACKGROUND

Non-steroidal anti-inflammatory drugs (NSAIDs) are commonly recommended for perioperative opioid-sparing multimodal analgesic treatments. Concerns regarding the potential for serious adverse events (SAEs) associated with perioperative NSAID treatment are especially relevant following gastrointestinal surgery. We assessed the risks of SAEs with perioperative NSAID treatment in patients undergoing gastrointestinal surgery.

METHODS

We conducted a systematic review of randomised clinical trials assessing the harmful effects of NSAIDs versus placebo, usual care or no intervention in patients undergoing gastrointestinal surgery. The primary outcome was an incidence of SAEs. We systematically searched for eligible trials in five major databases up to January 2024. We performed risk of bias assessments to account for systematic errors, trial sequential analysis (TSA) to account for the risks of random errors, performed meta-analyses using R and used the Grading of Recommendations Assessment, Development and Evaluation framework to describe the certainty of evidence.

RESULTS

We included 22 trials enrolling 1622 patients for our primary analyses. Most trials were at high risk of bias. Meta-analyses (risk ratio 0.78; 95% confidence interval [CI] 0.51-1.19; I2 = 4%; p = .24; very low certainty of evidence) and TSA indicated a lack of information on the effects of NSAIDs compared to placebo on the risks of SAEs. Post-hoc beta-binomial regression sensitivity analyses including trials with zero events showed a reduction in SAEs with NSAIDs versus placebo (odds ratio 0.73; CI 0.54-0.99; p = .042).

CONCLUSION

In adult patients undergoing gastrointestinal surgery, there was insufficient information to draw firm conclusions on the effects of NSAIDs on SAEs. The certainty of the evidence was very low.

The Significance of Preoperative Neutrophil-to-Lymphocyte Ratio (NLR), Platelet-to-Lymphocyte Ratio (PLR), and Systemic Inflammatory Index (SII) in Predicting Severity and Adverse Outcomes in Acute Calculous Cholecystitis

The prediction of severity in acute calculous cholecystitis (AC) is important in therapeutic management to ensure an early recovery and prevent adverse postoperative events. We analyzed the value of the neutrophil-to-lymphocyte ratio (NLR), platelet-to-lymphocyte ratio (PLR), and systemic inflammatory index (SII) to predict advanced inflammation, the risk for conversion, and postoperative complications in AC. Advanced AC was considered the cases with empyema, gangrene, perforation of the gallbladder, abscesses, or difficulties in achieving the critical view of safety. A 3-year retrospective was performed on 235 patients admitted in emergency care for AC. The NLR was superior to the PLR and SII in predicting advanced inflammation and risk for conversion. The best predictive value was found to be at an NLR "cut-off" value of >4.19, with a sensitivity of 85.5% and a specificity of 66.9% (AUC = 0.824). The NLR, SII, and TG 13/18 correlate well with postoperative complications of Clavien-Dindo grade IV (p < 0.001 for all variables) and sepsis. For predicting early postoperative sepsis, TG 13/18 grading >2 and NLR > 8.54 show the best predicting power (AUC = 0.931; AUC = 0.888, respectively), although not significantly higher than that of the PLR and SII. The NLR is a useful biomarker in assessing the severity of inflammation in AC. The SII and PLR may be useful in the prediction of systemic inflammatory response.

Anesthetic therapy for acute pain relief after laparoscopic cholecystectomy: systematic review

Inappropriate therapy of postoperative pain in laparoscopic cholecystectomy may lead to late mobilization, patient dissatisfaction, delayed hospital discharge, and chronic pain development. Our objective was to identify the best therapeutic strategy available to the anesthesiologist for the acute postoperative pain of patients submitted to elective laparoscopic cholecystectomy. This is a systematic review that included 36 complete articles indexed in the Medline, Scopus, Web of Science and LILACS databases, with a five-year time cut (2012 to 2016), resulting from controlled and randomized studies that were submitted to qualitative analysis. In a proposal for multimodal analgesia, it is important to consider the contraindications, adverse effects, dose and optimal timing of interventions. Non-opioid drugs, such as non-steroidal anti-inflammatory drugs (NSAIDs)/cyclooxygenase-2 (COX-2) inhibitors, gabapentin/pregabalin, N-methyl-D-aspartate (NMDA) receptor antagonists, and others. Opioids may be used at low doses associated with multimodal therapy or are restricted to cases where non-opioid multimodal analgesia is insufficient. We conclude that there is no consensus as to the best analgesic strategy to be implemented in the acute postoperative pain of laparoscopic cholecystectomy, which requires its applicability in an individualized way, based on the scientific evidence found in the literature. As contribution to medical learning and practice, we point out the theoretical enrichment of the analgesic drug options available for the therapy of postoperative pain in patients submitted to elective laparoscopic cholecystectomy, and alert the team to consider the adverse effects of the interventions implemented.

Efficacy and Safety of Postoperative Pain Relief by Parecoxib Injection after Laparoscopic Surgeries: A Systematic Review and Meta-analysis of Randomized Controlled Trials

OBJECTIVE

This study aims to evaluate the efficacy and safety of parecoxib injection in pain relief after laparoscopic surgeries.

METHODS

A comprehensive literature search based on 4 online databases (PubMed, Embase, Cochrane Central Register of Controlled Trials, and Web of Science) was applied to retrieve all related randomized controlled trials (RCTs). Two independent reviewers screened each article for eligibility according to the predetermined inclusion criteria. The Cochrane Collaboration's tool was applied to evaluate the methodological quality of included studies. A standardized data collection sheet was designed to extract data from included studies. RevMan version 5.3 (The Cochrane Collaboration, Copenhagen, Denmark) was selected to perform meta-analysis.

RESULTS

A total of 1,060 participants who were scheduled for gynecological laparoscopic surgery or laparoscopic cholecystectomy (LC) were enrolled in 12 selected RCTs. The methodological qualities of the studies were evaluated as moderate to high. The combined data showed that perioperative parecoxib injection could significantly reduce the proportion of patients who required adjuvant pain relieve after laparoscopic surgeries. Significantly lower pain scores in the parecoxib groups were observed, which proved that preoperative or intraoperative injection of 40 mg parecoxib was more effective than placebo for immediate pain relief after LC. But preoperative injection of 40 mg parecoxib showed no improvement compared with placebo in the management of immediate pain following gynecological laparoscopic surgery. The occurrence of adverse events showed no differences between perioperative parecoxib administration and placebo control.

CONCLUSION

Perioperative parecoxib administration was effective in reducing the proportion of patients who required adjuvant pain relief after laparoscopic surgeries without significant adverse events compared with placebo. The effect of parecoxib injection on immediate pain relief remains in question. Future RCTs with larger sample sizes are encouraged.

Tolerability of the COX-1/COX-2 inhibitor lornoxicam in the treatment of acute and rheumatic pain

Aim: To assess the safety of lornoxicam with particular focus on gastrointestinal (GI) events. Methods: Data on adverse drug reactions (ADRs) were pooled from 60 comparative studies of lornoxicam. Results: A total of 6420 patients received lornoxicam, 1192 received placebo and 3770 received a comparator analgesic. ADRs were reported by 21% of lornoxicam-treated patients, with GI events the most frequent (14 vs 8% with placebo). Across 15 studies that compared lornoxicam (n = 1287) with another NSAID (n = 1010), there was a reduced risk of a GI ADR with lornoxicam (0.78 [95% CI: 0.64–0.96]; p = 0.017). Conclusion: Lornoxicam was well tolerated with the type of GI events observed consistent with the known safety profile of NSAIDs.