Effects of epidural anesthesia in pheochromocytoma and paraganglioma surgeries: A protocol for systematic review and meta-analysis

Objective: Anesthetic management is a great challenge during the surgical resection of pheochromocytomas and paragangliomas (PPGLs) due to potential hemodynamic fluctuations and/or postoperative complications. Although combined epidural-general anesthesia is commonly used in PPGLs surgeries, there is still no consensus whether combined epidural-general anesthesia was superior than general anesthesia alone for these populations. For the first time, we conducted this systematic review and meta-analysis to summarize the effects of combined epidural-general anesthesia versus general anesthesia alone on hemodynamic fluctuations as well as postoperative complications in patients undergone PPGLs surgeries.

Methods: This systematic review and meta-analysis was performed according to the preferred reporting items for systematic reviews and meta-analyses statement. The primary outcome were hemodynamic fluctuations, including intraoperative hypotension, postoperative hypotension, and hypertensive crisis. Secondary outcome was the incidence of postoperative complications during hospital stay.

Results: Finally, three retrospective cohort studies involving 347 patients met the inclusion criteria. A meta-analysis was not performed since outcomes from included studies were not available to be pooled. On the basis of the findings of non-randomized controlled trials (RCTs) literature, 2 studies suggested that combined epidural-general anesthesia was associated with intraoperative and postoperative hypotension, although one study reported that epidural anesthesia use reduced the incidence of postoperative complications in patients undergone surgical resection of PPGLs.

Conclusions: Currently, no published RCTs have yet assessed clinically relevant outcomes with respect to the application of epidural anesthesia during PPGLs surgeries. Well-designed RCTs should nonetheless be encouraged to properly assess the efficacy and safety of epidural anesthesia for PPGLs surgeries.