Table 1.

Summary of RCTs included in the meta-analysis

First author/Year of publication	No. of subjects	Surgery type	CABG technology	TEA continued postoperatively	TEA	Perioperative management of TEA	Primary endpoint?	POAF		Study design/Jadad score
								TEA + GA	GA
Jidéus/2001 [15]	121	elective CABG	CPB	Unclear	T2-T5, the day before surgery	Intraoperative: bupivacaine 5 mg/mL, with an infusion rate of 4 to 8 mL/h. Postoperative: continuous infusion of bupivacaine (2 mg/mL) and sufentanil (1 mg/mL) epidurally (3 to 7 mL/h)	Yes	13/41	29/80	RCT/2
Nygard/2004 [16]	163	elective CABG	CPB	4 days	T1-T3, the day before surgery	Intraoperative and postoperative : bolus doses of 4 mL of bupivacaine, 5 mg/mL, given hourly	Yes	28/79	25/84	RCT/3
Bakhtiary/2007 [17]	132	elective CABG	OPCAB	3 days	T1-T3, the day before surgery	Preoperative and postoperative: continuous infusion with ropivacaine 0.16 % and sufentanil 1 g/mL at an hourly rate of 2 to 5 mL was started after a bolus dose of 6 mL	Yes	2/66	18/66	RCT/2
Tenenbein/2008 [18]	50	elective or semi-elective CABG	CPB	2 days	T2-T5, at least four hours prior to systemic heparinization	Intraoperative: 5-mL bolus of 0.75% ropivacaine and 200 μg of hydromorphone in the epidural catheter, followed by infusion of 0.75 % ropivacaine at 5 mL/h. Postoperative: continuous infusion lasting 48 h and consisting of 0.2 % ropivacaine, with 15 μg/mL of hydromorphone titrated.	No	6/25	9/25	RCT/3
Caputo/2009 [19]	74	elective CABG	OPCAB	3 days	T2-T4, before induction of anesthesia	Intraoperative and postoperative: continuous infusion of 0.125 % bupivacaine and 0.0003 % clonidine (150 g in 500 mL) at an initial rate of 10 mL/h	No	7/36	18/38	RCT/3

CABG, coronary artery bypass surgery; OPCAB, off-pump coronary artery bypass grafting; CPB, cardiopulmonary bypass; TEA, thoracic epidural anesthesia; GA, general anesthesia; POAF, postoperative atrial fibrillation; RCT, randomized controlled trial.