ReviewJournal of anesthesia, analgesia and critical care2024
Analgesic efficacy and safety of erector spinae versus serratus anterior plane block in thoracic surgery: a systematic review and meta-analysis of randomized controlled trials.
Review in Journal of anesthesia, analgesia and critical care, 2024. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. It is linked to trial NCT06625580 (Comparison of Ultrasound-Guided Serratus Anterior and Transversus Thoracic Muscle Plane Block Combination Versus Erector Spinae Plane Block for Acute Poststernotomy Pain Management After Cardiac Surgery), which is not on this map. Cited by 11 papers.
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.
Comparison of Ultrasound-Guided Serratus Anterior and Transversus Thoracic Muscle Plane Block Combination Versus Erector Spinae Plane Block for Acute Poststernotomy Pain Management After Cardiac Surgery
Who cites it
11 citing papers in PubMed, 14 citations in OpenAlex.
- Postoperative Cognitive Dysfunction and Analgesic Outcomes in Cardiac Surgery: Evaluating the Role of Nerve Block Techniques.The Clinical journal of pain · 2026Review
- Fascial plane blocks in pediatric patients.Journal of anesthesia, analgesia and critical care · 2026Review
- Thoracic wall fascial plane blocks: a narrative review for breast, thoracic, and cardiac surgery.Journal of anesthesia, analgesia and critical care · 2025Review
- Efficacy of erector spinae plane block versus caudal block for postoperative analgesia in paediatric surgery: A systematic review and meta-analysis.Indian journal of anaesthesia · 2025Article
- What is new in cardiac anesthesia in 2024?Journal of anesthesia and translational medicine · 2025Review
- Comparison of the pharmacokinetic variations of different concentrations of ropivacaine used for serratus anterior plane block in patients undergoing thoracoscopic lobectomy: a population pharmacokinetics analysis.Frontiers in pharmacology · 2025Article
- Effectiveness of Combining Thoracic Paravertebral Nerve Block and Serratus Anterior Plane Block in Non-Intubated Spontaneous-Ventilation Video-Assisted Thoracoscopic Surgery: A Retrospective Case-Control Study.Journal of inflammation research · 2025Article
- Pain Management Approaches for Robotic-Assisted Thoracic Surgery: A Retrospective Analysis.Journal of pain research · 2025Article
- Recent Advances in Perioperative Analgesia in Thoracic Surgery: A Narrative Review.Journal of clinical medicine · 2024Review
- Analgesic efficacy and safety of erector spinae plane block versus serratus anterior plane block in breast surgery-a meta-analysis and systematic review of randomized controlled trials.Journal of anesthesia, analgesia and critical care · 2024Review
- A comparative study between ultrasound guided serratus anterior block and erector spinae block for perioperative analgesia in children undergoing upper thoracic surgeries: A randomized trial.Journal of anaesthesiology, clinical pharmacologyArticle
Corrections and comments
PubMed lists nothing against this paper. Absence here is not a guarantee, only a check that was made.
Authors and funding
15 authors at 8 institutions in 2 countries.
Funding
No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.
Abstract
backgroundErector spinae plane block (ESPB) and serratus anterior plane block (SAPB) are regional anesthesia techniques that have shown favorable results in pain management following thoracic surgeries; however, their relative superiority is unclear. This review (PROSPERO: CRD42023443018) aims to compare the analgesic efficacy of ESPB and SAPB in patients undergoing thoracic surgeries through the pooled analysis of co-primary outcomes: postoperative oral-morphine-equivalent (mg) consumption in 24 h and pain scores (static) at 24 h.
methodsA literature search was conducted across PubMed, Cochrane Library, and Google Scholar to identify randomized controlled trials (RCTs) from inception to May 2023, comparing ESPB and SAPB in thoracic surgeries. Statistical pooling was done using Review Manager 5.4.1. Bias assessment employed the Cochrane Collaboration Risk-of-Bias 2.0 tool. The strength of evidence was assessed using the guidelines from the GRADE working group.
resultsNine RCTs (485 patients) were included in the study. Postoperative pain scores (static) at 24 h (mean difference (MD) = - 0.31 [- 0.57, 0.05], p = 0.02) and postoperative oral-morphine-equivalent (mg) consumption in 24 h (MD = - 19.73 [- 25.65, - 13.80], p < 0.00001) were significantly lower in the ESBP group. However, the MDs did not exceed the set threshold for clinical importance. No significant differences were observed in the opioid-related adverse effects and block-related complications.
conclusionOur statistically significant results imply that ESPB has superior analgesic efficacy compared to SAPB; however, this difference is clinically unimportant. The safety profile of the two blocks is comparable; hence, current evidence cannot define the relative superiority of one block over the other. Our findings warrant further research with standardized methodologies and a longer duration of analgesic efficacy assessment to yield robust evidence for better clinical applications.
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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.