Liposomal bupivacaine versus interscalene nerve block for pain control after total shoulder arthroplasty: A systematic review and meta-analysis.

OBJECTIVE

To illustrate the efficacy liposomal bupivacaine versus interscalene nerve block for pain management after total shoulder arthroplasty.

METHODS

A systematic search was performed in Medline, PubMed, Embase, ScienceDirect and the Cochrane Library. Data on patients prepared for total shoulder arthroplasty in studies that compared liposomal bupivacaine versus interscalene nerve block were retrieved. The endpoints were the visual analogue scale (VAS) and opioid consumption. Fixed/random effect model was used according to the heterogeneity tested by I statistic. Software of Stata 11.0 was used for pooling the final outcomes.

RESULTS

Four randomized controlled trials (RCTs) including 510 patients met the inclusion criteria. The present meta-analysis indicated that there were no significant differences between groups in terms of VAS score at 12 h, 24 h, and 48 h (p > 0.05). No significant differences were found regarding to opioid consumption at postoperative 12 h, 24 h and 48 h (p > 0.05).

CONCLUSION

Compared with interscalene nerve block, liposomal bupivacaine had comparative effectiveness on reducing both pain scores and opioid consumption. Higher quality RCTs are required for further research.