Non-invasive ventilation for preoxygenation before general anesthesia: a systematic review and meta-analysis of randomized controlled trials

BACKGROUND AND OBJECTIVES: Preoxygenation is crucial for providing sufficient oxygen reservoir to a patient before intubation and enables the extension of the period between breathing termination and critical desaturation (safe apnoea time). Conventionally, face mask ventilation is used for preoxygenation. Non-invasive ventilation is a new preoxygenation method. The study objective was to compare the outcomes of non-invasive ventilation and face mask ventilation for preoxygenation. METHOD: PubMed, Embase, Cochrane Library, and the ClinicalTrials.gov registry were searched for eligible studies published from database inception to September 2021. Individual effect sizes were standardized, and a meta-analysis was conducted using random effects models to calculate the pooled effect size. Inclusion criteria were randomised controlled trials of comparing the outcomes of non-invasive ventilation or face mask ventilation for preoxygenation in patients scheduled for surgeries. The primary outcome was safe apnea time, and the secondary outcomes were post-operative complications, number of patients who achieved the expired O(2) fraction (FeO(2)) after 3 min of preoxygenation, minimal SpO(2) during tracheal intubation, partial pressure of oxygen in the arterial blood (PaO(2)) and partial pressure of carbon dioxide (PaCO(2)) after preoxygenation, and PaO(2) and PaCO(2) after tracheal intubation. RESULTS: 13 trials were eligible for inclusion in this study. Significant differences were observed in safe apnoea time, number of patients who achieved FeO(2) 90% after preoxygenation for 3 min, and PaO(2) and PaCO(2) after preoxygenation and tracheal intubation. Only in the non-obese subgroup, no significant difference was observed in safe apnoea time (mean difference: 125.38, 95% confidence interval: − 12.26 to 263.03). CONCLUSION: Non-invasive ventilation appeared to be more effective than conventional methods for preoxygenation. We recommend non-invasive ventilation based on our results. SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: The online version contains supplementary material available at 10.1186/s12871-022-01842-y.