SynthesisAnaesthesia2021
A systematic review and trial sequential analysis of intravenous vs. oral peri-operative paracetamol.
Synthesis in Anaesthesia, 2021. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 13 papers, 2 of them syntheses that pooled it.
What it found
Each row is one number read from the abstract, on the scale the paper reported it, with its interval. Left of the dashed line favours the treatment, right favours the comparator. Under each row is the sentence it came from. New to these charts? A ten-minute tutorial.
The abstract states no effect estimate the extractor could read, or names no intervention and outcome on the map, so this paper lights no cell and moves no belief. It is still indexed, cited and linked below.
The trial behind it
Trials whose registry record cites this paper, or whose number appears in the abstract. A trial that started after this paper was published is citing it as background, not reporting it.
Neither the registry nor the abstract names a trial number. If this is a trial report, that itself is worth knowing.
Who cites it
13 citing papers in PubMed, 2 syntheses or guidelines pooled it, 28 citations in OpenAlex.
- Efficacy of different routes of acetaminophen administration for postoperative pain in children: a systematic review and network meta-analysis.Canadian journal of anaesthesia = Journal canadien d'anesthesie · 2024Pooled it
- Effect of Intravenous Paracetamol on Opioid Consumption in Multimodal Analgesia After Lumbar Disc Surgery: A Meta-Analysis of Randomized Controlled Trials.Frontiers in pharmacology · 2022Pooled it
- The effect of preemptive intravenous paracetamol-mannitol on postoperative analgesia and quality of recovery in elderly patients undergoing total hip arthroplasty.BMC anesthesiology · 2026Trial
- Article
- A clinical decision support tool for acute pain within an electronic health record to improve analgesic prescribing practice.British journal of anaesthesia · 2025Article
- Comment on: Environmental impact of intravenous versus oral administration materials for acetaminophen and ketoprofen in a French university hospital: an eco-audit study using life cycle analysis.Canadian journal of anaesthesia = Journal canadien d'anesthesie · 2025Article
- Environmental impact of intravenous versus oral administration materials for acetaminophen and ketoprofen in a French university hospital: an eco-audit study using a life cycle analysis.Canadian journal of anaesthesia = Journal canadien d'anesthesie · 2024Article
- Parenteral Ready-to-Use Fixed-Dose Combinations Including NSAIDs with Paracetamol or Metamizole for Multimodal Analgesia-Approved Products and Challenges.Pharmaceuticals (Basel, Switzerland) · 2023Review
- Review
- Metabolism of Acetaminophen by Enteric Epithelial Cells Mitigates Hepatocellular Toxicity In Vitro.Journal of clinical medicine · 2023Article
- Regional anesthesia and acute perioperative pain management in thoracic surgery: a narrative review.Journal of thoracic disease · 2022Review
- Paracetamol: A Review of Guideline Recommendations.Journal of clinical medicine · 2021Review
- Opioid-Sparing Anesthetic Technique for Pediatric Patients Undergoing Adenoidectomy: A Pilot Study.Journal of pain research · 2020Article
Corrections and comments
- Commented on by
Authors and funding
6 authors at 2 institutions in 2 countries.
Funding
Abstract
Postoperative pain might be different after intravenous vs. oral paracetamol. We systematically reviewed randomised controlled trials in patients >15 years that compared intravenous with oral paracetamol for postoperative pain. We identified 14 trials with 1695 participants. There was inconclusive evidence for an effect of route of paracetamol administration on postoperative pain at 0-2 h (734 participants), 2-6 h (766 participants), 6-24 h (1115 participants) and >24 h (248 participants), with differences in standardised mean (95%CI) pain scores for intravenous vs. oral of -0.17 (-0.45 to 0.10), -0.09 (-0.24 to 0.06), 0.06 (-0.12 to 0.23) and 0.03 (-0.22 to 0.28), respectively. Trial sequential analyses suggested that a total of 3948 participants would be needed to demonstrate a meaningful difference in pain or its absence at 0-2 h. There were no differences in secondary outcomes. Intravenous paracetamol is more expensive than oral paracetamol. Substitution of oral paracetamol in half the patients given intravenous paracetamol in our hospital would save around £ 38,711 (€ 43,960 or US$ 47,498) per annum.
Indexed as
Identifiers
What OpenQuestion holds
Registered trials
Read under generation 80e0d062 · epoch 390. Bibliography from PubMed, PubMed Central and OpenAlex; grants from NIH RePORTER; trial links from ClinicalTrials.gov; estimates, votes and beliefs from the OpenQuestion graph.