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. 2019 Mar 1;2019(3):CD006715. doi: 10.1002/14651858.CD006715.pub3

Bach 2002.

Methods Parallel RCT
Ethics committee: approved by the ethics committee
Informed consents: written informed consents obtained
Site: University of Saarland, Homburg/Saarland, Germany
Setting: university hospital
Dates of data collection: unspecified
Funding: supported in part by the industry
Registration: unspecified
Participants 40 participants: mean age 63.0 years; sex distribution: 12 females and 28 males
Inclusion criteria

  1. Patients scheduled for elective coronary artery bypass grafting surgery


Exclusion criteria

  1. Impaired coagulation

  2. Allergies to local anaesthetics

  3. Corticoid medication

  4. Preoperative signs of infection

  5. Renal or liver failure

  6. Diabetes mellitus

  7. Impaired left ventricular function (LVEF < 50%)
Interventions Intervention

  1. Epidural analgesia (N = 13)


Comparator

  1. Systemic analgesia (N = 27)


Premedication: 1 mg of flunitrazepam orally on the day of surgery
Induction: fentanyl 10 mcg/kg, midazolam 40 mcg/kg, etomidate 0.15 mg/kg, and pancuronium 0.1 mg/kg
Maintenance: fentanyl/midazolam infusion (10/75 mcg/kg/h) and pancuronium
Surgery: CABG with CPB
Outcomes Relevant to this review

  1. Risk of mortality

  2. Haemodynamic variables


Others

  1. Inflammatory response

  2. Splanchnic perfusion
Notes Correspondence: email sent 16 March 2018; no reply
Conflict of interest: supported in part by the industry
DOI: n/a
Risk of bias
Bias Authors' judgement Support for judgement
Random sequence generation (selection bias) Low risk Quote: "drawing lots"
Allocation concealment (selection bias) Unclear risk Assigned the day before surgery; "randomizing box’ contained 20 lots of each group"
Blinding of participants and personnel (performance bias) 
 All outcomes Unclear risk Not reported
Blinding of outcome assessment (detection bias) 
 All outcomes Unclear risk Not reported
Incomplete outcome data (attrition bias) 
 All outcomes Low risk One participant died at 8 hours after surgery, as included in the review
Selective reporting (reporting bias) Low risk All results reported
Other bias Unclear risk Control group consisted of 27 participants; 13 of them received a dopexamine infusion
Supported in part by the industry