Does alvimopan enhance return of bowel function in laparoscopic gastrointestinal surgery? A meta-analysis

Postoperative ileus (POI) remains a major impediment in patient recovery and leads to longer lengths of stay at the hospital, readmission rates, and hospital costs. Alvimopan, a mu-opioid receptor antagonist, lowers POI incidence following open gastrointestinal surgery, however, little is known about its role on POI prevention among patients undergoing laparoscopic gastrointestinal surgery.

A comprehensive search of PubMed/MEDLINE, Scopus, CINAHL, and Cochrane databases was performed (December 2014). Meta-analysis was performed using the Mantel-Haenszel (fixed effects) model with odds ratio (OR) to assess prevention of POI and hospital readmission.

Five studies were included in the final analysis. Pooling 4 of 5 studies, there was over a 75% relative risk reduction in POI development when patients were given alvimopan compared to placebo (OR 0.24, 95%CI 0.12-0.51, P=0.02). The number needed to treat with alvimopan to prevent one POI episode was 11 patients. There was a modest reduction in the length of hospitalization between 0.2 and 1.6 days. There did not appear to be a difference in frequency of 30-day readmission rate among the alvimopan group compared to placebo (OR 1.15, 95%CI 0.54-2.45, P=0.62).

Overall, there was a 75% relative risk reduction in POI development among patients undergoing laparoscopic gastrointestinal surgery. However, there did not appear to be a significant reduction in all-cause 30-day readmission rate or length of hospitalization. Future studies will need to address which subset of patients undergoing laparoscopic gastrointestinal surgery will benefit most from alvimopan.