Comparative Study between Ultrasound Guided Oblique Subcostal Transversus Abdominis Plane Block and Local Wound Infiltration as Postoperative Analgesia in Hepatectomy

Abstract

Abstract Background Poorly controlled acute pain after hepatectomy is related to somatic pain signals derived from the abdominal wall and is associated with a variety of unwanted post-operative consequences, including patient suffering, distress, respiratory complications, delirium, myocardial ischemia, prolonged hospital stay, an increased likelihood of chronic pain, increased consumption of analgesics, delayed bowel function and increase the requirement for rescue analgesics. Appropriate pain treatment protocols to reduce postoperative morbidity, improve the results of the surgery and decrease hospital costs. Objective to assess the postoperative analgesic efficacy of transversus abdominis plane (TAP) block compared local wound infiltration after hepatectomy regarding the pain relief, effect on hemodynamics, requirement of first supplemental doses of analgesia and total number of doses received. Patients and Methods All patients were informed with the procedure US guided TAP block and were trained to use the visual analogue scale (VAS). The study was conducted on 60 randomly chosen patients aged 18 to 60 years, American Society of Anesthesiologists (ASA) class I ,II and III scheduled for hepatectomy in Ain Shams University Hospitals after approval of the medical ethical committee. They were allocated in two groups of 30 patients each: Results The results of the study revealed that there is Patients receiving TAP block had significantly lower pain scores for 12 h after operation and decrease total need of analgesic in first 24 h post operative compared with patients who received wound infiltration. Conclusion oblique subcostal TAP block was effective in reducing postoperative pain scores at rest and movement for 12-24 hours and lower total 24-h postoperative opioid and analgesic consumption after hepatectomy under general anesthesia, compared to local wound infiltration.