Investigation of the analgesic efficacy of ultrasound-guided thoracolumbar interfacial plane block in vertebral surgery

Objectives: To investigate the effect of thoracolumbar interfacial plane block (TLIP) on analgesic consumption and pain score in vertebral surgery. Methods: All patients (64 patients undergoing vertebral surgery) were randomly allocated as Group T (patients with block, n=32) and Group C (patients without block, n=32). After surgery, patient-controlled analgesia using tramadol was administered to all patients. Pain intensity was evaluated with visual analogue scale (VAS; recovery room at 1, 2, 6, 12, and 24 hours postoperative), and as rescue analgesia, morphine was administered to patients with VAS scores of >4. In this study, total tramadol consumption, the number of patients requiring morphine, VAS score, and Quality of Recovery-40 of all patients questionnaire was evaluated. Results: There were important differences between the 2 groups according to mean postoperative tramadol consumption (Group T and Group C; 180 mg [100-260] vs. 210 mg [100-300]; p=0.001) and the number of patients requiring additional analgesia (n=4; 12.5% vs. n=24; 75%, p=0.000). There were important differences between the 2 groups according to the postoperative VAS pain score (p=0.000). Conclusion: Ultrasound-TLIP reduces analgesic consumption and pain severity after vertebral surgery. Therefore, it is an important regional analgesia technique. ClinicalTrials.gov Grant No.: NCT04548076