Study designs of evaluations included in the review
Randomised controlled trials (RCTs) were eligible for inclusion in the review.
Specific interventions included in the review
Studies that used sufentanil either alone or in combination with local anaesthetics, morphine, clonidine or ketamine in peri-operative analgesia (defined as intra- and post-operative) were eligible for inclusion. The routes of administration could be intravenous (i.v.), intrathecal, epidural, combinations of routes, patient-controlled analgesia (PCA) or epidural analgesia (PCEA), or fixed interval.
The included studies used various doses of sufentanil as peri-, intra- or post-operative analgesia. The treatments used in the studies were: epidural morphine with and without bupivacaine; epidural sufentanil with and without bupivacaine; intramuscular morphine at fixed intervals; epidural ropovacaine with and without sufentanil; i.v. plus epidural remifentanil or sufentanil; patient-controlled sufentanil (i.v. or via epidural); i.v. or epidural sufentanil or fentanyl; different doses of i.v. or epidural fentanyl; epidural sufentanil plus adrenaline; i.v. or epidural clonidine; various doses of i.v. or epidural ketamine used in conjunction with epidural bupivacaine, sufentanil and clonidine mixture; i.v. ketoprofen plus epidural sufentanil; intrathecal sufentanil; intrathecal morphine with and without sufentanil; i.v. propofol or midazolam; and i.v. midazolam plus sufentanil.
Participants included in the review
The inclusion criteria were not explicitly defined in terms of participants.
The studies included in the review were of patients undergoing abdominal surgery (including gynaecological surgery and Caesarean section), paediatric surgery, and other types of surgery (including orthopaedic, maxillo-facial, thoracotomy and lithotripsy).
Outcomes assessed in the review
The inclusion criteria were not explicitly defined in terms of outcomes. The review assessed efficacy and adverse effects. The following outcomes were mentioned in the text of the review: post-operative analgesia, speed of onset of analgesia, pain relief, plasma concentration of analgesic agents, heart rate, mean arterial pressure, sleep quality, sufentanil consumption, haemodynamics, oxygen consumption, myocardial ischaemia, recovery time, hypercapnia, respiratory rate, time to extubation, and circulating catecholamines. Some studies used a visual analogue score to assess pain, but the review did not state the range of scores. It was not stated how the outcomes for other studies were measured.
How were decisions on the relevance of primary studies made?
The authors did not state how the papers were selected for the review, or how many reviewers performed the selection.