Background: Abdominoplasty is a popular aesthetic procedure. Both patients and doctors are concerned about post-operative pain and discomfort. erector spinae plane block (ESP) with ultrasound guidance (UG) was an excellent analgesic technique in bariatric surgery.
Objectives; to evaluate the intensity and duration of analgesia (ESP) technique to that provided by the transversus abdominis plane (TAP) technique were done bilaterally with (UG) post abdominoplasty.
Study Design; A single-blinded, clinical, prospective, randomized study.
Patients and Methods; 51 patients received bilateral (UG) block: (ESP) group (n = 25), and (TAP) group (n = 26), Using the same dosage and volume of local anesthetics. Pain intensity using VAS score at first 30 minutes, and then at 2, 4, 6, 8, 12, 16, 20, and 24 hours postoperatively, IV boluses of pethidine (rescue analgesic) were administrated if VAS ≥ 4, The primary outcome considered as the duration of effective analgesia for each block. While the Secondary outcome measured the over-all pethidine usage, patient satisfaction and the incidence of harmful effects from the techniques.
RESULTS;
VAS score in the ESP group was significantly lower at 8hrs and 12hrs. There was significant prolonged time to the first analgesic dose in ESP group (9.16±1.07 hours) than TAP group (7.65±0.75 hours). Also, a significant reduction in to the overall pethidine intake in 24 hours (110.40±12.74mg.) in the ESP group.
Conclusion: Especially in comparison to the TAP block, the ESP block enables more reliable alleviation of pain, longer analgesic period, extends the time to initial analgesic requirements, reduces pethidine usage.