Efficacy and Safety of Methylprednisolone for Lung Surgery: a Systematic Review and Meta-analysis of Randomized Controlled Trials

INTRODUCTION: The administration of methylprednisolone (MP) is a component of perioperative multimodal analgesia that mitigates the potentially deleterious effects of postoperative pain and opioid consumption. However, a systematic evaluation of the efficacy and safety of MP is lacking. The present systematic review and meta-analysis was performed to quantify the potential clinical benefits and risks of perioperative MP in lung surgery. METHODS: We searched seven electronic databases for randomized controlled trials (RCTs) comparing MP with placebo. Coprimary outcomes were rest pain scores, dynamic pain scores, and cumulative morphine equivalent consumption within 24 h postoperatively. RESULTS: A total of 11 trials including 643 participants were selected for our meta-analysis. The results demonstrated that the MP group had a significant difference in coprimary outcomes (rest pain scores, dynamic pain scores, and cumulative morphine equivalent consumption) compared with the placebo group; nevertheless, the improvement was not clinically meaningful based on minimum clinically important differences (MCID). Notably, MP administration reduced serum levels of interleukin (IL)-6 at 6 h (weighted mean difference −20.49 pg/mL; 95% CI −29.94 to −11.04), and decreased the incidence rate of acute lung injury (rate ratio 0.18; 95% CI 0.03–0.98) and cognitive dysfunction (rate ratio 0.43; 95% CI 0.21–0.88) compared with the placebo group. CONCLUSIONS: Our findings suggest that the administration of MP contributed to an insignificant relief in acute postoperative pain for lung surgery in a clinical setting. Future studies should focus on exploring the role of MP in reducing pulmonary and surgical-related complications after lung surgery. CLINICAL TRIAL NUMBER: PROSPERO registration number CRD42022314224. SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: The online version contains supplementary material available at 10.1007/s40122-022-00443-4.