Pre-emptive analgesic effect of ultrasonography-guided transversus abdominis plane block performed by adding dexamethasone to bupivacaine

Abstract

The objective of this study was to evaluate the preemptive analgesic effect of ultrasound-guided transversus abdominis plane block performed with bupivacaine or adding dexamethasone on bupivacaine in laparoscopic cholecystectomy. This retrospective study was conducted on a total of 84 patients who underwent ultrasound-guided TAP block in laparoscopic cholecystectomy. Patients were divided into two groups: Group Bupivacaine (Group B) and Group Bupivacaine+Dexamethasone (Group B+D). Intraoperative hemodynamic changes, intraoperative remifentanil consumption, postoperative visual analog scale scores, tramadol consumption in 24 hours postoperatively, and postoperative first analgesic time were obtained from the records and compared between the groups. There were no statistically significant differences between both groups in terms of intraoperative heart rate, mean arterial pressure, oxygen saturation, and end-tidal CO2 values. Postoperative visual analog scale scores, doses of remifentanil and total tramadol, and time of receiving the first analgesic were similar. Dexamethasone can be added to the bupivacaine for the TAP block without major side effects. Adding dexamethasone to bupivacaine in transverse abdominis plane block performed in laparoscopic cholecystectomy procedures did not create a significant difference in VAS score. We think that the use of dexamethasone does not have an additional analgesic effect. However, our results should be supported by further studies.