OBJECTIVE: The aim of the study was to identify the analgesic efficacy and safety of transcutaneous electronic nerve stimulation in postoperative pain after pulmonary surgery. DESIGN: Electronic databases (PubMed, Embase, Web of Science, and CENTRAL) were systematically searched from their inception to June 2019. The continuous variables were pooled as the weighted mean difference with correlated 95% confidence interval. Results were recognized as significant when a p value is less than 0.05. Subgroup analyses, sensitivity analyses, and quality assessment were performed. RESULTS: Altogether, 10 studies were included. The pooled results indicated that transcutaneous electronic nerve stimulation group conferred lower pain intensity score on the first postoperative day (weighted mean difference -0.93, 95% confidence interval -1.56 to -0.30, p = 0.004), postoperative day 2 (weighted mean difference -1.00, 95% confidence interval -1.64 to -0.35, p = 0.002), postoperative day 3 (weighted mean difference -0.92, 95% confidence interval -1.76 to -0.09, p = 0.03), postoperative day 4 (weighted mean difference -0.90, 95% confidence interval -1.24 to -0.56, p < 0.001), and postoperative day 5 (weighted mean difference -1.39, 95% confidence interval -2.20 to -0.57, p < 0.001) compared with the placebo transcutaneous electronic nerve stimulation group. No publication bias was found. No significant discovery was obtained in sensitivity analyses. CONCLUSIONS: Transcutaneous electronic nerve stimulation might be an effective supplementary analgesic regimen in multimodal analgesia to decrease pain intensity after pulmonary surgery.

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