Table 3 List of selected outcomes

Terkawi et al., 2015 [12]

Thoracic paravertebral block for breast surgery reduced postoperative pain score at rest at 24 h compared to no intervention.

Albrecht et al., 2015 [13]

Perineural dexamethasone increased duration of postoperative analgesia, defined as time to first analgesic request, when used with long-acting local anesthetics.

Baeriswyl et al., 2015 [16]

Ultrasound-guided transversus abdominis plane block reduced cumulative morphine consumption at 6 h postoperatively after abdominal surgery with general or spinal anesthesia.

Lewis et al., 2015 [17]

Ultrasound guidance increased the upper and lower limb nerve block success rate defined by the lack of need for analgesic or anesthetic rescue.

Chan et al., 2014 [20]

Femoral nerve block improved analgesia, defined as decrease in pain score at rest at 24 h postoperatively, as compared with systemic opioids (patient-controlled analgesia).

Svircevic et al., 2013 [24]

Thoracic epidural anesthesia given in combination with general anesthesia reduced the risk of mortality in patients undergoing cardiac surgery as compared with general anesthesia alone.

Ong et al., 2005 [26]

Preincisional administration of epidural analgesics decreased postoperative (24–48 h) pain scores to a greater degree than similar postincisional analgesic interventions.

Richman et al., 2006 [27]

Spinal anesthesia was associated with lower estimated intraoperative blood loss when compared to general anesthesia.