Efficacy of bilateral erector spinae block for postoperative pain control in patients of lumbar spine fusion surgery

Abstract

BackgroundControlling postoperative pain after posterior lumbar spine surgeries is necessary to achieve patient satisfaction and good outcome after successful surgical intervention. Preoperative erector spinae block (ESB) technique is considered a recently evolved tool to achieve these goals.PurposeThe aim of this study was to evaluate the efficacy of the bilateral ESB technique in pain management after lumbar spinal fusion surgery for degenerative spine diseases.Patients and methodsPatients who underwent lumbar spinal fusion surgery for degenerative pathologies in 2019and 2020 were enrolled in the study. The patients were assessed according to pain score experienced postoperatively at different times till the end of the first postoperative day by numeric rating scale, amount of analgesics received, and drug-related complications noticed in the first postoperative day.ResultsThe data of 60 patients who had lumbar spinal fusion surgery were collectively analyzed. Of these, 30 received only general anesthesia (group A), whereas the other 30 patients received the ESB in addition to general anesthesia (group B). The numeric rating scale pain scores and the amount of intravenous postoperative analgesia received were lower in group B than in group A at all the measured time points (P < 0.05). There was no significant difference in the incidence of complications between the two groups.ConclusionBilateral ESB is an effective tool in controlling postoperative pain after posterior spinal fusion surgeries in both pain intensity and postoperative-received analgesics.