Evaluation of the effectiveness of the erector spinae plane (ESP) block in endovideosurgical hernioplasty inguinal hernias

The objective was to evaluate  the effectiveness of the erector  spinae plane block (ESP-block) as a component of perioperative analgesia in endovideosurgical  hernioplasty of inguinal hernias.

Materials and methods. The study included 70 patients who underwent endovideosurgical plastic surgery of inguinal hernias. All patients randomly divided into the main (n=32) and control  (n=38) groups, were given general combined anesthesia. In the main group, it was supplemented with the ESP-block, which was performed with ropivacaine at the L1 level. Intraoperatively, fentanyl was used for analgesia. The indication for its introduction was an increase in the Surgical Pleth Index (SPI) of more than 50. In the early postoperative period, ketoprofen and tramadol were used for analgesia, which were administered with the development of moderate  and high intensity of the pain. The effectiveness of the ESP-block was evaluated by comparing the total doses of analgesic drugs that were required for analgesia during surgery and in the early postoperative period in patients of both groups.

Results. In the main group, the total doses of fentanyl and ketoprofen were statistically significantly lower compared to the control group (p<0.01). After surgery, tramadol was used only in patients of the control  group. In some patients of the main group who required analgesia in the early postoperative  period (n=15), the pain syndrome  developed  only 12 hours after the end of the surgery. Their intraoperative need for fentanyl  did not differ from other patients of the main group (p>0.05).

Conclusion. In endovideosurgical hernioplasty of inguinal hernias, the use of the ESP-block as part of multimodal analgesia contributes to achieving a good level of analgesia both intra- and in the early postoperative period.

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