Although thoracoscopy has characteristics such as a small surgical incision and low stress response, post-surgical pain after a thoracoscopic operation is no less than that after a thoracotomy. Moreover, poor post-surgical pain management is likely to cause an increased incidence of postoperative pulmonary complications (PPCs) and chronic post-surgical pain. The serratus anterior plane block (SAPB) is a regional anesthesia method whereby local anesthetics (LAs) are injected into the serratus anterior space to block the lateral cutaneous branch of the intercostal nerve, long thoracic nerve, and dorsal thoracic nerve. The block range of the SAPB covers the incisions of video-assisted thoracoscopic surgery (VATS) and the site of the chest tube, which are often located in the antero-lateral chest wall. Therefore, the SAPB can achieve effective analgesia in VATS. For example, 0.125% to 0.25% levobupivacaine (20-25 ml) is widely used for thoracic surgery, which can achieve effective analgesia and avoid adverse reactions. Moreover, it has advantages compared with thoracic segmental epidural block (TEA) and thoracic paravertebral block (TPVB), such as simple operation, increased safety, fewer complications, and hemodynamic stability. In addition, adequate analgesia is helpful for pulmonary function recovery and reduces the incidence of PPCs. This article introduces the anatomical mechanism of the SAPB, diverse operation approaches, how to choose drugs and adjuvants, and the resulting impacted area range. It summarizes the advantages and disadvantages of the SAPB compared with other analgesic methods and posits that the SAPB is beneficial to the recovery of postoperative lung function, which provides more options for postoperative analgesia after VATS.
Keywords: Postoperative acute pain management; Recovery of pulmonary function; Serratus anterior plane block; Video-assisted thoracoscopic surgery.
© 2021. The Author(s).