Dexmedetomidine Adjuvant Efficacy in Thoracoscopic Surgery: Meta-Analysis of 8 RCTs

A systematic review and meta-analysis of eight randomized controlled trials involving 468 patients, authored by Muhammad Ibrahim and published on figshare in May 2026. It evaluates the effectiveness and safety of adding dexmedetomidine to ropivacaine for regional anesthesia in video-assisted thoracoscopic surgery (VATS). The analysis follows PRISMA guidelines and was registered in the PROSPERO database (CRD420251086914).

Use Cases

• Evaluating the analgesic efficacy of dexmedetomidine as an adjuvant based on pain scores at rest and during coughing.
• Assessing post-operative recovery metrics based on data for patient-controlled analgesia (PCA) use, ambulation time, and hospital stay.
• Comparing the safety profile of combined anesthesia based on reported incidences of post-operative nausea and vomiting (PONV), dizziness, bradycardia, and hypotension.

Strengths

• Analysis is based on eight randomized controlled trials (RCTs), a study design that reduces bias.
• Includes data from 468 patients, providing a quantifiable sample size.
• Follows PRISMA guidelines and was pre-registered in the PROSPERO database (CRD420251086914), enhancing methodological rigor.
• Reports specific statistical outcomes, including standardized mean differences (SMDs) and risk ratios (RRs) with 95% confidence intervals.

Limitations

• The dataset is a 110.9 KB DOCX file containing a review article, not raw clinical trial data; analysis requires extraction.
• Row and column-level data are unavailable, limiting direct computational use.
• The geographic and institutional sources of the included RCTs are not specified, which may affect generalizability.

Provenance

Source

Muhammad Ibrahim via figshare.

Collection Method

Systematic review and meta-analysis of literature from PubMed and Cochrane Library up to July 2025.

Time Range

Literature search conducted up to July 2025.

Freshness

Last updated 2026-05-16.