Introduction:
Magnesium sulfate has emerged as an important drug to alleviate the pain after laparoscopic cholecystectomy. However, the use of magnesium sulfate for pain control after laparoscopic cholecystectomy has not been well established. We conduct a systematic review and meta-analysis to evaluate the impact of magnesium sulfate on pain control after laparoscopic cholecystectomy.
Materials and Methods:
PubMed, Embase, and the Cochrane Central Register of Controlled Trials are searched. Randomized controlled trials assessing the influence of magnesium sulfate treatment versus placebo on pain control after laparoscopic cholecystectomy are included. Two investigators have independently searched articles, extracted data, and assessed the quality of included studies. This meta-analysis is performed using the random-effect model.
Results:
Four randomized controlled trials involving 263 patients are included in the meta-analysis. Compared with control intervention after laparoscopic cholecystectomy, magnesium sulfate can substantially decrease pain scores at 2 hours [standard mean differences (MD)=−0.45; 95% confidence interval (CI)=−0.88 to −0.02; P=0.04] and 8 hours (standard MD=−0.62; 95% CI=−0.95 to −0.28; P=0.0003), as well as reduce analgesic consumption (standard MD=−0.40; 95% CI=−0.73 to −0.07; P=0.02), but has no substantial influence on pain scores at 24 hour (standard MD=−0.38; 95% CI=−0.79 to 0.02; P=0.07) and operation duration (standard MD=−0.09; 95% CI=−0.34 to 0.15; P=0.45).
Conclusions:
Magnesium sulfate is effective to reduce pain intensity in early stage and anesthetic consumption after laparoscopic cholecystectomy.