Effect of TAP Block on Time Required for First Analgesic Dose After Cesarean Cection Under Spinal Anesthesia

Overview

While opioids are the mainstay for post-operative analgesia after caesarean section, they are associated with various side effects. Ultrasound guided transversusabdominis plane (TAP) block has been postulated to provide effective analgesia for caesarean section. However a new technique in TAP block is described which can be used safely by a beginner without any fear of complication whichwill help in providing good postoperative analgesia to maximumnumber of patients. This study will evaluate the analgesic efficacy of TAP block using Modified Surgeon Assisted Bilateral TAP block for post caesarean analgesia in a randomized controlled trial.

Acute severe pain after cesarean delivery is frequent. At least 10 to 15% of the women develop chronic pain .Effective postoperative analgesia after caesarean section is important because it enables early ambulation and facilitates breast-feeding. The administration of opioids, local blocks and other analgesic medication is instituted to decrease the duration and intensity of postoperative pain as a part of a multimodal analgesic regimen. The transversusabdominis plane (TAP) block is a regional analgesic technique which blocks T6-L1 nerve branches and has an evolving role in postoperative analgesia for lower abdominal surgeries . In postoperative analgesia, efficacy of TAP block is equivalent to morphine with the additional benefits of increasing duration of analgesia, reducing postoperative opioid usage, with satisfactory pain relief and few side effects. The TAP block avoids the risk of neuraxial complications and opioid complications in all patients. TAP block the neural afferents of theanterior abdominal wall after spreading of the local anesthetic agent in the neurofascial plan between the internal oblique and transversusabdominis muscle. TAP block has been underutilized in spite of having very low complication and high success rate using ultrasound technique This may be due to the lack of availability of ultrasound at most of the centers, lack of training in ultrasound guided block technique. A new technique can be used in TAP block without the fear of complications in the blind landmark based approach.The advantage of this technique includes avoiding missing the second pop in obese and pregnant patients due to thinning of the internal obliqueaponeurosis, reposition of the needle by surgeon if one enters the peritoneal cavity accidentally. Also there are nil chances of visceral injury thus can be safely used by a beginner without any fear of complication. However, there might be a chance of needle stick injury to the surgeon's hand. This study aims to evaluate effect of the Modified Surgeon Assisted Bilateral TAP block on time required for first analgesic dose after Cesarean Section under spinal anesthesia