BACKGROUND:Emergence delirium is a state of mental confusion and agitation after wakening from anesthesia that may result in traumatic injuries to the child. Limited drugs have been studied or used to prevent this occurrence.

OBJECTIVE:To determine the efficacy and safety of intravenous lidocaine in controlling emergence agitation (EA) in children undergoing surgeries done under general anesthesia compared to placebo or other intravenous anesthetics.

METHODOLOGY:This study is a meta-analysis, where published articles were obtained using PubMed, Cochrane Library, Clinical Trials, and Google Scholar up to August 2022. The primary outcome measure includes incidence of emergence delirium while secondary outcomes are postoperative pain and adverse effects comparing lidocaine and other intravenous drugs. The latter includes nausea and vomiting, untoward airway events and local anesthetic toxicity (LAST). Review Manager 5.4 was used for statistical analysis.

RESULTS:There were a total of 6 articles included for quantitative and qualitative analysis. The overall incidence of emergence agitation (RR=1.03, 95% CI [0.50, 2.13], P=0.94) and adverse events were higher in the Lidocaine group, although the differences were not significant. Subgroup analysis by comparator showed significant increased risk of developing EA with Lidocaine compared to other intravenous drugs (RR=2.06, 95% CI [1.32, 2.32], P=0.002). The risk for developing postoperative pain is decreased with Lidocaine compared to placebo and other drugs.

CONCLUSION:Intravenous lidocaine given to children undergoing general anesthesia with sevoflurane increased their risk for emergence delirium, compared to both placebo and other intravenous anesthetics.