Background:Pain experienced following laparoscopic cholecystectomy is largely contributed by the anterior abdominal wall incisions. This study investigated whether subcostal transversus abdominis (STA) block was superior to traditional port-site infiltration of local anesthetic in reducing postoperative pain, opioid consumption, and time for recovery.Materials and Methods:Forty-three patients presenting for day case laparoscopic cholecystectomy were randomly allocated to receive either an ultrasound-guided STA block (n = 21) or port-site infiltration of local anesthetic (n = 22). Visual analog pain scores were measured at 1 and 4 h postoperatively to assess pain severity, and opioid requirement was measured in recovery and up to 8 h postoperatively. The time to discharge from recovery was recorded.Results:STA block resulted in a significant reduction in serial visual pain analog score values and significantly reduced the fentanyl requirement in recovery by >35% compared to the group that received local port-site infiltration (median 0.9 vs. 1.5 μcg/kg). Furthermore, STA block was associated with nearly a 50% reduction in overall 8-h equivalent morphine consumption (median 10 mg vs. 19 mg). In addition, STA block significantly reduced median time to discharge from recovery from 110 to 65 min.Conclusion:The results suggest that STA block provides superior postoperative analgesia and reduces opioid requirement following laparoscopic cholecystectomy. It may also improve theater efficiency by reducing time to discharge from the recovery unit.

No abstract

In this paediatric population intravenous ketamine did not have a morphine sparing effect. The increased incidence of side-effects, especially hallucinations, reported by patients given a ketamine infusion may limit the further use of postoperative ketamine in children.

We have demonstrated that the addition of caudal S(+)-ketamine to bupivacaine prolongs the duration of postoperative analgesia. However, the same dose of i.v. S(+)-ketamine combined with a plain bupivacaine caudal provides no better analgesia than caudal bupivacaine alone, indicating that the principal analgesic effect of caudal S(+)-ketamine results from a local neuroaxial rather than a systemic effect.

Endoscopic retrograde cholangiopancreatography has evolved from being a simple diagnostic procedure, performed under proceduralist-administered sedation, to a therapeutic one involving increasingly complex techniques that require a high degree of patient cooperation. The anaesthetist has become a vital member of the team. Many of the patients are medically unfit for surgery. Sedation or general anaesthesia is generally indicated for the increasingly complex, long and painful procedures being performed. Although there is very little published evidence of specific anaesthetic techniques in this area, knowledge of these problems allows the anaesthetist to select an appropriate technique to provide safe and effective anaesthesia.