Ultrasound-guided Low Thoracic Erector Spinae Plane Block for Effective Postoperative Analgesia after Lumbar Surgery: Report of Five Cases

Cureus. 2018 Nov 16;10(11):e3603. doi: 10.7759/cureus.3603.

Abstract

Pain control is an important administration of postoperative management in lumbar spinal surgery, and multimodal analgesia is most likely an important strategy in reducing postoperative spinal surgery. Erector spinae plane (ESP) block is a recently described regional anaesthesia technique that blocks the dorsal and ventral rami of the spinal nerves and the sympathetic nerve fibers. While the ESP block has been shown to provide effective postoperative analgesia after thoracic, breast, and abdominal surgery in case reports and randomised controlled studies, there are only a few case series that report that an ultrasonography (US)-guided bilateral ESP block provides effective postoperative analgesia in lumbar surgery. We report five patients undergoing lumbar surgery in which a bilateral lower thoracic ESP block was used as the postoperative analgesia. The bilateral ESP block may be a promising anesthetic method for postoperative analgesia following lumbar surgery. Our aim is testing the safety and efficacy of this technique in various surgical procedures by conducting prospective studies.

Keywords: erector spinae plane block; postoperative analgesia; spinal surgery.

Publication types

  • Case Reports