Objective To assess the analgesic effect of caudal bupivacaine with neostigmine for hypospadias surgery in children. Methods We searched The Cochrane Library (Issue 2, 2008), MEDLINE (1966-2008), EMbase (1980-2008), CBMdisc (1978-2008), CNKI (1989-2008) and Wanfang Database using the keywords “bupivacaine”, “neostigmine” and “hypospadias” to identify randomized control trials (RCTs) of caudal bupivacaine with neostigmine versus bupivacaine alone for hypospadias surgery in children. The methodological quality of included RCTs was evaluated by two reviewers independently, and Meta-analysis was conducted using RevMan 5.0.13 software. Results We identified 3 RCTs including 160 patients which had an uncertain risk of bias. The results of meta-analysis showed no significant difference found between bupivacine alone and bupivacine plus 1 μg/kg neostigmine (WMD= 0.05, 95%CI –?6.76 to 6.86, P= 0.99), but a difference was found between bupivacine alone and bupivacine plus 1 μg/?kg, 2 μg/kg, or 3 μg/?kg neostigmine (WMD= 12.79, 95%CI 10.96 to 14.62, Plt; 0.000 01; WMD= 12.10, 95%CI –?6.76 to 6.86, Plt; 0.000 01; WMD= 11.90, 95%CI 9.17 to 14.63, Plt;0.000 01). The duration of postoperative analgesia of the bupivacaine with neostigmine group was longer than that of bupivacine alone. Conclusions Because of the small sample size and the unclear risk of bias in the included RCTs, the effectiveness of caudal bupivacaine with neostigmine for postoperative pain management after hypospadias surgery in children is not completely confirmed. So more large sample size, double-blind RCTs are needed.
