Effects of ultrasound-guided erector spinae plane block on postoperative analgesia and plasma cytokine levels after uniportal VATS: a prospective randomized controlled trial

• Published in: Journal of anesthesia 2021-02, Vol.35 (1), p.3-9
• Main Authors: Liu, Lin, Ni, Xin-xin, Zhang, Ling-wei, Zhao, Kai, Xie, Hong, Zhu, Jiang
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Subjects: Analgesia; Analysis; Anesthesia; Anesthesia, Conduction; Anesthesiology; Care and treatment; Critical Care Medicine; Cytokines; Emergency Medicine; Ethylenediaminetetraacetic acid; Humans; Intensive; Interleukins; Medicine; Medicine & Public Health; Nerve Block; Original Article; Pain; Pain Medicine; Plasma; Prospective Studies; Remifentanil; Sufentanil; Ultrasonography, Interventional
• ISSN: 0913-8668; 1438-8359
• DOI: 10.1007/s00540-020-02848-x

Purpose Although uniportal video-assisted thoracoscopic surgery (VATS) has been widely used, the associated postoperative pain is still severe. Currently, a variety of regional anesthesia methods have been used to relieve postoperative pain. In our study, we wanted to evaluate the effectiveness of ultrasound-guided erector spinae plane block (ESPB) as a postoperative analgesia after uniportal VATS. Methods Eighty patients scheduled to undergo uniportal VATS were randomly divided into Group ESP and Group C. In Group ESP, the patients underwent ultrasound-guided ESPB under general anesthesia before surgery, while Group C was set as blank control group without ESPB. The primary outcome was the sufentanil dose within 24 h after surgery. The secondary outcomes mainly included postoperative pain scores at 2, 4, 8, and 24 h evaluated using a numeric rating scale (NRS), intraoperative opioid dosage, levels of inflammatory cytokines, including tumor necrosis factor-alpha (TNF-α), interleukin-6 (IL-6), and interleukin-10 (IL-10) in the plasma, side effect profile, and length of postoperative hospital stay. Results Postoperative sufentanil consumption (32.5 ± 6.3 μg vs. 42.8 ± 7.6 μg, P