Choice of local anaesthetic for epidural caesarean section: a Bayesian network meta-analysis

Rapid-onset epidural local anaesthesia can avoid general anaesthesia for caesarean delivery. We performed a Bayesian network meta-analysis of direct and indirect comparisons to rank speed of onset of the six local anaesthetics most often used epidurally for surgical anaesthesia for caesarean delivery. We searched Google Scholar, PubMed, EMBASE, Ovid, CINAHL and CENTRAL to June 2019. We analysed 24 randomised controlled trials with 1280 women. The mean (95%CrI) onset after bupivacaine 0.5% was 19.8 (17.3–22.4) min, compared with which the mean (95%CrI) speed of onset after lidocaine 2% with bicarbonate, 2-chloroprocaine 3% and lidocaine 2% was 6.4 (3.3–9.6) min faster, 5.7 (3.0–8.3) min faster and 3.9 (1.8–6.0) min faster, respectively. Speed of onset was similar to bupivacaine 0.5% after ropivacaine 0.75% and l-bupivacaine 0.5%: 1.6 (−1.4 to 4.8) min faster and 0.4 (−2.2 to 3.0) min faster, respectively. The rate (95%CrI) of intra-operative hypotension was least after l-bupivacaine 0.5%, 315 (236–407) per 1000, and highest after 2-chloroprocaine 3%, 516 (438–594) per 1000. The rate (CrI) of intra-operative supplementation of analgesia was least after ropivacaine 0.75% 48 (19–118) per 1000 and highest after 2-chloroprocaine 3%, 250 (112–569) per 1000.