ReviewClinical ophthalmology (Auckland, N.Z.)2025
Sub-Tenon's versus Topical Anesthesia for Effectiveness of Analgesia During Cataract Surgery: A Systematic Review with Meta-Analysis.
Review in Clinical ophthalmology (Auckland, N.Z.), 2025. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 3 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.
Neither the registry nor the abstract names a trial number. If this is a trial report, that itself is worth knowing.
Who cites it
3 citing papers in PubMed.
- The effect of sub-Tenon versus topical anesthesia on pupil responses in the early postoperative period after cataract surgery.BMC ophthalmology · 2026Article
- Postoperative Pain Trajectories and the Requirement for Rescue Analgesics Following Cataract Surgery versus Pterygium Excision: A Propensity Score-Matched Retrospective Cohort Study.Journal of pain research · 2026Article
- Topical anesthetic abuse keratopathy: an overlooked occupational eye health concern.Journal of occupational medicine and toxicology (London, England) · 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.
Funding
No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.
Abstract
Background: Sub-Tenon's and topical anesthesia are the most common anesthetic techniques employed for cataract surgery. The objectives were to compare the effectiveness of intraoperative analgesia between the two techniques. Methods: A systematic review was performed of three databases (MEDLINE, EMBASE, CENTRAL) from inception until August 2023. Included were adult patients undergoing routine cataract surgery with sub-Tenon's or topical anesthesia. Excluded were studies using systemic medications and complicated surgeries. The primary outcome was intraoperative analgesia assessed by patient reported pain scores. Secondary outcomes were post-operative pain at 30 minutes and 24 hours, patient satisfaction, surgeon satisfaction and complications. Risk of bias was evaluated using the revised Cochrane risk-of-bias tool for randomized trials (RoB 2). Outcomes were statistically assessed with meta-analyses where able. Results: Twelve studies with 1370 patients were included in the meta-analysis. Sub-Tenon's block provided better intraoperative analgesia with lower pain scores (SMD -0.53, 95% CI -0.70 to -0.36; p < 0.001) which remained significant on subgroup analysis of six studies with uniform pain scales (MD -0.84, 95% CI -1.22 to -0.47; p < 0.001). Instances of severe intraoperative discomfort requiring rescue regional anesthesia were reported with topical anesthesia. While there was no difference in pain scores at 30 minutes or 24 hours post-operatively, higher patient and surgeon satisfaction was found with sub-Tenon's anesthesia. Serious complications were rare, with a higher reported rate of posterior capsule rupture with topical anesthesia. Only two of fourteen studies were considered an overall low risk-of-bias. Conclusion: Sub-Tenon's block provides marginally better intraoperative analgesia during cataract surgery over topical anesthesia. Both can be considered effective for uncomplicated cataract surgery.
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.