Journal of Anesthesiology and Pain

Aims and Background : Patients undergoing abdominal surgery usually receive an epidural block for postoperative analgesia. However, when epidural analgesia is contraindicated or unwanted, various regional analgesia techniques are used in conjunction with systemic analgesia. The objective of this trial was to assess the effectiveness of paravertebral block in patients undergoing laparotomy.

Materials and Methods : We analyzed 40 patients scheduled for laparotomy . The patients were randomized to receive either an ultrasound-guided bilateral paravertebral block with bupivacaine (Group 1) (n=20) or to be part of the control group (n=20) (Group 2). Post-operatively, intravenous patient-controlled analgesia (PCIA) was used for all patients for pain control, which contained Fentanyl and Paracetamol. Visual analogue pain scores (VAS) at 1, 6, and 24 hours postoperatively, Additional analgesic request, the total amount of received analgesics and the complications were all evaluated.

Findings : Visual analogue pain score ( VAS) in the first hour after the Paravertebral block was significantly lower (P<0/05),but it was not significantly different among the two groups at 6 , 24 hours and immediately (zero time) after the block (P>0/05). The total amount of drugs and the delivered Bolus dose by PCIA in 24hr was significantly lower in the paravertebral group (P<0/05) . The first request time was significantly longer in Paravertebral group (P<0/05).

Conclusion : Paravertebral block could serve as effective analgesia adjunct in patients undergoing laparotomy and we recommend using this technique in postoperative period, according to our results.