Effect of sugammadex on postoperative complications in patients with severe burn who underwent surgery: a retrospective study

This retrospective study investigated the association of sugammadex with postoperative pulmonary complication risk between 2013 and 2021 in patients with severe burn of five hospitals. Postoperative pulmonary complications included atelectasis, pulmonary edema, pulmonary effusion, pneumothorax, pneumonia, pulmonary thromboembolism, respiratory failure and acute respiratory distress. To identify whether sugammadex reduced the risk of postoperative pulmonary complication in patients with severe burn who underwent surgery, Kaplan–Meier curve were used to check the difference of incidence according to surgical cases and time-varying Cox hazard regression were used to calculate the hazard ratio. The study included 1213 patients with severe burn who underwent 2259 surgeries. Postoperative pulmonary complications were occurred in 313 (25.8%) patients. Among 2259 surgeries, sugammadex was used in 649 (28.7%) surgeries. Cumulative postoperative pulmonary complication were 268 (16.6%) cases in surgeries without sugammadex, and 45 (6.9%) cases in surgeries with sugammadex, respectively (P < 0.005). The postoperative pulmonary complications risk was reduced significantly in patients who use sugammadex than those who did not use sugammadex. (Adjusted hazard ratio, 0.61; 95% confidence interval, 0.42–0.89; P = 0.011). In conclusion, sugammadex reduced risk of postoperative pulmonary complications compared with nonuse of sugammadex in patients with severe burn who underwent surgery.