Comparative safety of serotonin (5-HT3) receptor antagonists in patients undergoing surgery: a systematic review and network meta-analysis

Abstract

Background: Serotonin (5-HT3) receptor antagonists are commonly used to decrease nausea and vomiting for surgery patients, but these agents may be harmful. We conducted a systematic review on the comparative safety of 5-HT3 receptor antagonists.

Methods: Searches were done in MEDLINE, Embase, and the Cochrane Central Register of Controlled Trials to identify studies comparing 5-HT3 receptor antagonists with each other, placebo, and/or other antiemetic agents for patients undergoing surgical procedures. Screening search results, data abstraction, and risk of bias assessment were conducted by two reviewers independently. Random-effects pairwise meta-analysis and network meta-analysis (NMA) were conducted. PROSPERO registry number: CRD42013003564.

Results: Overall, 120 studies and 27,787 patients were included after screening of 7,608 citations and 1,014 full-text articles. Significantly more patients receiving granisetron plus dexamethasone experienced an arrhythmia relative to placebo (odds ratio (OR) 2.96, 95 % confidence interval (CI) 1.11-7.94), ondansetron (OR 3.23, 95 % CI 1.17-8.95), dolasetron (OR 4.37, 95 % CI 1.51-12.62), tropisetron (OR 3.27, 95 % CI 1.02-10.43), and ondansetron plus dexamethasone (OR 5.75, 95 % CI 1.71-19.34) in a NMA including 31 randomized clinical trials (RCTs) and 6,623 patients of all ages. No statistically significant differences in delirium frequency were observed across all treatment comparisons in a NMA including 18 RCTs and 3,652 patients.

Conclusion: Granisetron plus dexamethasone increases the risk of arrhythmia.

Fig. 1

Study flow. Details the flow of information through the different phases of the review; maps out the number of records identified, included and excluded, and the reasons for their exclusion

Fig. 2

Network meta-analysis diagrams for (a) arrhythmia and (b) delirium. Nodes are proportional to the number of patients included in the corresponding treatments, and edges are weighted according to the number of studies included in the respective comparisons. Dex: Dexamethasone; Dolas: Dolasetron; Drop: Droperidol; Granis: Granisetron; Ondans: Ondansetron; Tropis: Tropisetron

Fig. 3

Network meta-analysis results for arrhythmia. All treatments are compared to placebo. The black horizontal lines represent the 95 % confidence intervals (CI) of the summary treatment effects and red horizontal lines the 95 % predictive intervals (PrI). Results are presented on the odds ratio (OR) scale. Among patients of all ages receiving granisetron plus dexamethasone, significantly more experienced arrhythmia compared with placebo (OR 2.96, 95 % CI 1.11–7.94), ondansetron (OR 3.23, 95 % CI 1.17–8.95), dolasetron (OR 4.37, 95 % CI 1.51–12.62), tropisetron (OR 3.27, 95 % CI 1.02–10.43), and ondansetron plus dexamethasone (OR 5.75, 95 % CI 1.71–19.34). Note: Reference treatment is placebo. CI: Confidence interval; OR: Odds ratio; PrI: Predictive interval