Table 1.

Characteristics of included studies.

Study	Population	ASA physical status	Surgical procedure	Patients (n)	Stellate ganglion block	Comparison	Outcomes
Kumar et al. 11 (2014)	Adults aged 18–60 years	I–II	Upper limb fracture surgery	30	Injection of lidocaine (3 mL) at the level of the C7 vertebra before surgery	0.9% Saline (3 mL)	Postoperative pain score at 0, 2, 4, 6, 8, 12, 24, and 48 hours
Choi et al. 12 (2015)	Adults	NA	Arthroscopic rotator cuff repair	40	Injection of 0.375% levobupivacaine (4 mL) at the level of the C7 vertebra before surgery	Postoperative intravenous PCA	Postoperative pain score at 0, 2, 4, 6, 8, 12, 24, and 48 hours
Wu et al. 13 (2020)	Adults	I–III	Video-assisted thoracic surgery	87	Injection of 0.5% ropivacaine (5 mL) at the level of the C7 vertebra before surgery	No injection	Postoperative pain score at 0, 2, 4, 6, 24, and 48 hours; PONV
Rahimzadeh et al. 14 (2020)	Adults aged 18–50 years	I–II	Laparoscopic gynecologic surgery	40	Injection of 1% lidocaine (10 mL)	Distilled water (10 mL)	Postoperative pain score at 24 hours
Salman et al. 15 (2021)	Adults aged 18–75 years	II	Mastectomy with axillary dissection	80	Injection of 0.5% bupivacaine (5 mL) at the level of the C6 vertebra before surgery + multimodal systemic analgesia	Multimodal systemic analgesia	Postoperative pain score at 24 hours
Yang et al. 16 (2023)	Women aged 18–70 years	I–II	Breast cancer surgery	60	Injection of 0.25% ropivacaine (6 mL) at the level of the C6 vertebra before surgery	No injection	Postoperative pain score at 0, 2, 4, 8, and 24 hours; recovery time of anal exhaust
Yang et al. 17 (2022)	Women aged 18–65 years	I–II	Modified radical mastectomy	48	Injection of 0.5% ropivacaine (3 mL) at the level of the C6 vertebra before surgery	No injection	Postoperative pain score at 24 and 48 hours

ASA, American society of Anesthesiologists; PCA, patient-controlled analgesia; PONV, postoperative nausea and vomiting; NA, not reported.