Ultrasound-guided quadratus lumborum block versus transversus abdominis plane block in postoperative pain management after laparoscopic sleeve gastrectomy

Background
Patients undergoing abdominal surgeries may benefit from an ultrasound-guided quadratus lumborum block (QLB) as one of the postoperative pain management techniques.
Objective
This study compares the effects of bilateral ultrasound guided Transversus abdominis plane (TAP) block versus bilateral ultrasound guided QLB on postoperative analgesia in patients having laparoscopic sleeve gastrectomy (LSG) under general anaesthesia (GA).
Patients and methods
45 patients who were scheduled for elective LSG participated in a randomized controlled trial. All patients were given 1–2 μg/kg of intravenous fentanyl as intraoperative narcotic during GA. received ultrasound-guided QLB using 0.2 mL/kg of 0.25% bupivacaine per side after induction of general anaesthesia. received ultrasound-guided TAP block using 0.2 mL/kg of 0.25% bupivacaine per side after induction of general anaesthesia. received general anaesthesia and then 1 gm IV paracetamol and 30 mg IV ketorolac within first hour and 8 h postoperative.
Results
QLB group used pethidine as rescue analgesia mush less than other groups with highly statistically significant difference ( value<0.001). Also, there was statistically significant difference between groups in number of patients needed rescue analgesia (60% of QLB group, 86.7% of TAP group and 100% of control group). Also, the QLB group had superior clinical pain scores than the other groups with a statistically significant difference at PACU arrival, 30 min, 2 h, and 4 h postoperative. The TAP group had a lower VAS score than the control group, with a statistically significant difference at PACU arrival and 4 h postoperative. In comparison to the TAP group, the VAS score was lower in the QLB group, with a statistically significant difference at 30 min postoperatively. MAP was significantly lower in the QLB group than in the control group at PACU entry, 30 min, and 6 h postoperatively. However, MAP was lower in the QLB group than in the TAP group, with a statistically significant difference only at the 12- and 24-hour post-operative time points. HR was less significantly in QLB group than control group at 30, 2, 12, 24 h postoperatively, when comparing the HR between the QLB and TAP groups, the difference became statistically significant only at the 12-hour post-operative time.
Conclusion
In compared to TAP block and IV analgesics, QLB was the most efficient method for delivering analgesia following LSG.