SynthesisCanadian journal of anaesthesia = Journal canadien d'anesthesie2020
Quadratus lumborum block for postoperative analgesia: a systematic review and meta-analysis.
Synthesis in Canadian journal of anaesthesia = Journal canadien d'anesthesie, 2020. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. It is linked to trial NCT04908761 (Quadratus Lumborum Block for Analgesia After Living Donor Kidney Transplantation), which is not on this map. Cited by 32 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.
Quadratus Lumborum Block for Analgesia After Living Donor Kidney Transplantation: A Randomized Controlled Trial
Who cites it
32 citing papers in PubMed, 2 syntheses or guidelines pooled it, 64 citations in OpenAlex.
- Regional anaesthesia for postoperative pain management following laparoscopic, visceral, non-oncological surgery a systematic review and meta-analysis.Surgical endoscopy · 2024Pooled it
- Quadratus lumborum block for postoperative pain management in patients undergoing total hip arthroplasty: a systematic review and meta-analysis.Hip international : the journal of clinical and experimental research on hip pathology and therapy · 2023Pooled it
- Perineural or intravenous administration of dexmedetomidine combined with anterior quadratus lumborum block for analgesia after retroperitoneal laparoscopic surgery: a prospective, randomized controlled trial.BMC anesthesiology · 2026Trial
- Ultrasound guided external oblique intercostal plane block versus posterior transversus abdominis plane block for postoperative analgesia in adult patients undergoing open nephrectomy: a randomized trial.BMC anesthesiology · 2026Trial
- Comparison of Ultrasound-Guided Quadratus Lumborum Plane Block and External Oblique Intercostal Plane Block for Postoperative Analgesia After Laparoscopic Cholecystectomy: A Two-Center Randomized Controlled Trial.Medicina (Kaunas, Lithuania) · 2025Trial
- Modified versus traditional subcostal anterior quadratus lumborum block for postoperative analgesia after laparoscopic nephrectomy: a randomized-controlled study.Journal of anesthesia · 2025Trial
- Comparison of the analgesic efficacy of the ultrasound-guided transversalis fascia plane block and erector spinae plane block in patients undergoing open inguinal hernia repair under spinal anesthesia.Korean journal of anesthesiology · 2024Trial
- Effects of anterior approach to quadratus lumborum block on postoperative cognitive function following hip surgery in older people: a randomized controlled clinical trial.BMC geriatrics · 2023Trial
- Comparison of the Postoperative Analgesic Effects between Ultrasound-Guided Transmuscular Quadratus Lumborum Block and Thoracic Paravertebral Block in Laparoscopic Partial Nephrectomy Patients: A Randomized, Controlled, and Noninferiority Study.Pain research & management · 2023Trial
- Ultrasound-Guided Quadratus Lumborum Block Enhances the Quality of Recovery after Gastrointestinal Surgery: A Randomized Controlled Trial.Pain research & management · 2022Trial
- Quadratus Lumborum Block versus Thoracic Paravertebral Block for Postoperative Recovery Quality after Percutaneous Nephrolithotomy: A Randomized Noninferiority Trial.Pain and therapy · 2026Article
- Analgesic Effect of Laparoscopic Versus Ultrasound-Guided Quadratus Lumborum Block in Patients Undergoing Laparoscopic Nephrectomy: A Randomized Controlled Clinical Trial.Pain and therapy · 2026Article
- Efficacy and safety of nab-paclitaxel plus PD-1 inhibitor in elderly patients with advanced squamous lung cancer.BMC cancer · 2026Article
- Effects of esketamine combined with QLB in older frail patients with colorectal cancer surgery.Frontiers in medicine · 2026Article
- Comparison of the Analgesic Effect and Recovery Quality Between Erector Spinae Plane Block and Quadratus Lumborum Plane Block in Laparoscopic Cholecystectomy: A Retrospective Study.Journal of pain research · 2026Article
- Retrospective Analysis: Comparative Effects of General Anesthesia versus Quadratus Lumborum Block-Supplemented General Anesthesia on Postoperative Outcomes in Patients Undergoing Laparoscopic Myomectomy.Therapeutics and clinical risk management · 2026Article
- Analgesic effects of transversus abdominis plane and quadratus lumborum blocks are not clinically meaningful for laparoscopic nephrectomy: systematic review and network meta-analysis.The Korean journal of pain · 2025Article
- Local anesthetic dosing for fascial plane blocks to avoid systemic toxicity: a narrative review.Canadian journal of anaesthesia = Journal canadien d'anesthesie · 2025Review
- Review
- Low-Volume (0.3 mL/kg) Ropivacaine 0.5% for a Quadratus Lumborum Block in Cats Undergoing Ovariectomy: A Randomized Study.Veterinary sciences · 2025Article
Corrections and comments
PubMed lists nothing against this paper. Absence here is not a guarantee, only a check that was made.
Authors and funding
4 authors at 1 institution in 1 country.
Funding
No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.
Abstract
purposeThe goal of the present systematic review is to determine the efficacy of the quadratus lumborum block (QLB) in providing postoperative analgesia for abdominal wall and hip surgeries when compared with placebo or other analgesic techniques.
methodsElectronic databases (Medline, Embase, Cochrane Central, and Scopus) were searched for keywords and controlled vocabulary terms related to QLB from their inception to November 2019. The included studies compared ultrasound-guided single-injection QLB to placebo and other analgesic techniques in adult patients.
resultsForty-two randomized-controlled trials provided the data for this systematic review. Eight studies were assessed as high risk of bias in at least one domain. The included studies had significant heterogeneity with regard to the type of surgery, comparator groups, and outcomes measured; therefore, a limited quantitative analysis was undertaken for the comparison of QLB vs no block or placebo in patients undergoing Cesarean delivery only. For Cesarean delivery, the QLB reduced the opioid use by 24.1 (95% confidence interval, 17.3 to 30.9) mg oral morphine equivalents in the first postoperative 24 hr compared with no block or placebo with no difference in pain scores at rest. For other surgical procedures, the pain scores and opioid use were lower in the QLB group when compared with placebo or no regional anesthesia technique. When compared with other regional anesthetic techniques, the analgesic benefit of QLB was marginal.
conclusionQuadratus lumborum block provided analgesic benefits compared with placebo for use in the abdominal wall and hip surgery, with only marginal benefits compared with other regional analgesic techniques. The identified studies used different variants of QLB in many different surgery types. These findings and conclusions, therefore, should be considered preliminary.
trial registrationPROSPERO (CRD42018095965); registered 6 June 2018.
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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.