Posterior Intercostal Nerve Block With Liposomal Bupivacaine: An Alternative to Thoracic Epidural Analgesia

Enhanced Recovery After Surgery (ERAS) is a multimodal, multidisciplinary approach to surgical patients with the aim of enhancing the quality of recovery after surgery (1,2). This strategy translates into faster post-operative recovery and improvements of outcomes. All the ERAS Society guidelines (freely available at www.erassociety.org) take into consideration the perioperative management of analgesia. The role of pain management in ERAS pathways is fundamental, considering the importance of containing surgical stress, reducing pain-related complications and speeding recovery (2-5). Correspondence to: Carlo Del Naja, MD. Casa Sollievo della Sofferenza Hospital, viale Cappuccini, 1, 71013 San Giovanni Rotondo (FG), Italy.Email: c.delnaja@operapadrepio.it.Abstract: Video-assisted thoracoscopic surgery (VATS) is a minimally invasive technique that allows a faster recovery after thoracic surgery. Although enhanced recovery after surgery (ERAS) principles seem reasonably applicable to thoracic surgery, there is little literature on the application of such a strategy in this context. In regard to pain management, ERAS pathways promote the adoption of a multimodal strategy, tailored to the patients. This approach is based on combining systemic and loco-regional analgesia to favour opioid-sparing strategies. Thoracic paravertebral block is considered the first-line loco-regional technique for VATS. Other techniques include intercostal nerve block and serratus anterior plane block. Nonsteroidal anti-inflammatory drugs and paracetamol are essential part of the multimodal treatment of pain. Also, adjuvant drugs can be useful as opioid-sparing agents. Nevertheless, the treatment of postoperative pain must take into account opioid agents too, if necessary. All above is useful for careful planning and execution of a multimodal analgesic treatment to enhance the recovery of patients. This article summarizes the most recent evidences from literature and authors' experiences on perioperative multimodal analgesia principles for implementing an ERAS program after VATS lobectomy.

Section: Intercostal Nerve Block (Icnb)mentioning

confidence: 99%

Enhanced recovery pathways in thoracic surgery from Italian VATS Group: perioperative analgesia protocols

Piccioni¹,

Segat²,

Falini³

et al. 2018

“…Since over 90% of patients have needed a hospital stay of more than one day, single shot intercostal nerve analgesia levobupivacaine (0.5%) has been insufficient for postoperative pain control. Epidural analgesia carries the risk of rare but undesirable complications, while liposomal bupivacaine is not easily accessible everywhere (22). Intraoperatively placing an ICC through the sub-pleural space is a feasible and easily practiced procedure for postoperative pain control.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Management of acute postoperative pain with continuous intercostal nerve block after single port video-assisted thoracoscopic anatomic resection

Hsieh¹,

Wang²,

Liu³

et al. 2016

Background: Effective postoperative pain control for thoracic surgery is very important, not only because it reduces pulmonary complications but also because it accelerates the pace of recovery. Moreover, it increases patients' satisfaction with the surgery. In this study, we present a simple approach involving the safe placement of intercostal catheter (ICC) after single port video-assisted thoracoscopic surgery (VATS) anatomic resection and we evaluate postoperative analgesic function with and without it.Methods: We identified patients who underwent single port anatomic resection with ICC placed intraoperatively as a route for continuous postoperative levobupivacaine (0.5%) administration and retrospectively compared them with a group of single port anatomic resection patients without ICC.The operation time, postoperative day 0, 1, 2, 3 and discharge day pain score, triflow numbers, narcotic requirements, drainage duration and post-operative hospital stay were compared.Results: In total, 78 patients were enrolled in the final analysis (39 patients with ICC and 39 without).We found patients with ICC had less pain sensation numerical rating scale (NRS) on postoperative day 0, 1 (P=0.023, <0.001) and better triflow performance on postoperative day 1 and 2 (P=0.015, 0.032). In addition, lower IV form morphine usage frequency and dosage (P=0.009, 0.017), shorter chest tube drainage duration (P=0.001) and postoperative stay (P=0.005) were observed in the ICC group.Conclusions: Continuous intercostal nerve blockade by placing an ICC intraoperatively provides effective analgesia for patients undergoing single port VATS anatomic resection. This may be considered a viable alternative for postoperative pain management.

“…Currently, no golden standard exists with regard to single port VATS postoperative pain management. Various kinds of postoperative analgesia have been tried by thoracic surgeons and anesthesiologists (9)(10)(11)(12)(13)(14)(15). Regional analgesia techniques seem to be effective in postoperative management.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Management of post-operative pain by placement of an intraoperative intercostal catheter after single port video-assisted thoracoscopic surgery: a propensity-score matched study

Wu¹,

Hsieh²,

Liu³

et al. 2016

Background: The establishment of a golden standard for post-operative analgesia after thoracic surgery remains an unresolved issue. Benefiting from the rapid development of single port video-assisted thoracoscopic surgery (VATS), a good candidate for the alleviation of patients' pain is the placement of an intercostal catheter (ICC) safely after uniport VATS. We hypothesized that continual infusion through ICC could provide effective analgesia for patients with only one wound and we evaluate its postoperative analgesic function in uniport VATS patients with or without intercostal nerve blockade.Methods: Since March 2014, 235 patients received various kinds of single port VATS. We identified 50 patients who received single port VATS with intercostal nerve blockade and retrospectively compared them with a group of patients who had received single port VATS without intercostal nerve blockade. The operative time, post operation day 0, 1, 2, 3 and discharge day pain score, narcotic requirements, drainage duration and post-operative hospital stay were collected. In order to establish a well-balanced cohort study, we also used propensity scores matching (1:1) to compare the short term clinical outcome in two groups.Results: No operative deaths occurred in this study. The uniport VATS with intercostal nerve blockade group was associated with less post operation day 0 and day 1 pain score, and narcotic requirements in our cohort study (P<0.001, <0.001, and 0.003). After propensity scores matching, there were 50 patients in each group. Mean day 0 and day 1, day 2, day 3 pain score, drainage duration, post-operative hospital stay, and narcotic requirements were smaller in uniport VATS with intercostal nerve blockade (P<0.001, <0.001, 0.038, 0.007, 0.02, 0.042, and 0.003). Conclusions:In conclusion, in patients post single port VATS, continual intercostal nerve block with levobupivacaine infusion appears to be a safe, effective and promising technique in our study, associated with a shorter hospital stay and less post-operative pain. Further prospective trials are needed to determine the long term outcomes.