ReviewJournal of pain research2026
Efficacy of Transcutaneous Auricular Vagus Nerve Stimulation for Postoperative Pain: A Systematic Review and Meta-Analysis.
Review in Journal of pain research, 2026. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Not yet cited in PubMed.
What it found
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The abstract states no effect estimate the extractor could read, or names no intervention and outcome on the map, so this paper lights no cell and moves no belief. It is still indexed, cited and linked below.
The trial behind it
Trials whose registry record cites this paper, or whose number appears in the abstract. A trial that started after this paper was published is citing it as background, not reporting it.
Neither the registry nor the abstract names a trial number. If this is a trial report, that itself is worth knowing.
Who cites it
0 citing papers in PubMed.
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Corrections and comments
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Authors and funding
4 authors.
Funding
No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.
Abstract
Objectives: Transcutaneous auricular vagus nerve stimulation (taVNS) has been proposed as a non-pharmacological intervention for postoperative pain, but its effects remain unclear. We conducted this study to evaluate the efficacy and safety of taVNS for postoperative pain management. Methods: A systematic literature search was performed in PubMed, Embase, the Cochrane Library, and Web of Science. Randomized controlled trials comparing perioperative taVNS with sham stimulation implemented using inactive electrical output, electrical insulation, transient stimulation followed by deactivation, or electrode placement at presumed non-vagal auricular sites in adult surgical patients were included. The review protocol was prospectively registered in PROSPERO (CRD420251129040). Outcomes included postoperative pain scores, postoperative opioid consumption, proportion of patients requiring rescue analgesia, incidence of rebound pain, and incidence of postoperative nausea and vomiting (PONV). Standardized mean differences (SMD) or mean differences (MD) with 95% confidence intervals (CI) were calculated for continuous outcomes, and risk ratios (RR) for dichotomous outcomes, using random-effects models. Results: Seven studies (684 patients) were included in the meta-analysis. The results showed that taVNS significantly reduced postoperative pain scores at early (MD -0.79, 95% CI -1.02 to -0.56), middle (MD -0.77, 95% CI -1.10 to -0.43), and late (MD -0.88, 95% CI -1.06 to -0.70) time points. Postoperative opioid consumption was not significantly different between the taVNS and sham groups (SMD -0.69, 95% CI -1.40 to 0.03). taVNS reduced the need for rescue analgesia and the incidence of rebound pain and was associated with a borderline lower incidence of PONV. Conclusion: Perioperative taVNS may reduce postoperative pain intensity and the incidence of rescue analgesia, rebound pain, and PONV; however, it was not associated with a statistically significant reduction in postoperative opioid consumption. Given the moderate-to-very-low certainty of evidence and the exclusively Chinese origin of the included trials, larger multicentre and multinational RCTs using standardized stimulation and sham protocols are required before routine clinical adoption.
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