TRANSVERSUS ABDOMINAL PLANE BLOCK

Objectives: To determine the efficacy of co-administration of magnesiumsulphate (MgSO4) with bupivacaine in enhancing the analgesic efficacy of Transversusabdominus plane block (TAP block) in patients undergoing total abdominal hysterectomy.Study Design: Randomized clinical single blinded trial. Setting: Department of Anesthesia,Nishtar Medical University/Hospital Multan. Period: 07 months from March 2017 to October2018. Methods: We included female patients who presented with uterine or ovarian cancer andplanned for total abdominal hysterectomy. In group B patients (n=30) TAP block was givenusing 0.25% bupivacaine (20 ml). In group M patients (n=30), 19.4 ml 0.25% bupivacaine plus0.60 ml Mg sulphate. Mean arterial blood pressure, heart rate, VAS pain score and time of1st rescue analgesia and total dose of rescue analgesia was noted in all patients. For dataanalysis we used independent sample t-test (Mann-Whitney U test for skewed data) to comparequantitative variables. Chi-square test we used for comparison of ASA status. P-value < 0.05was taken as significant difference. Results: Mean VAS pain score after 1 hour was 3.27+1.70in group B and 2.23+1.35 in group M (p-value 0.012), after 2 hours mean VAS pain score was4.03+2.10 in group B and 2.47+1.25 in group M (p-value 0.001), after 6 hours mean VAS scorewas 4.53+2.62 in group B and 3.27+1.36 in group M (p-value 0.02). Mean VAS pain score after12 and 24 hour of shifting the patient in recovery room was no significantly different between thegroups (p-value 0.55 & 0.08 resp.). Mean time of 1st rescue analgesia was 7.53+4.92 hours ingroup B versus 13.96+2.25 hours in group M. Conclusion: Administration of 200 mg of MGSO4with bupivacaine for TAP block significantly improves the duration of analgesia and reduces therequirement of rescue analgesics in patients undergoing total abdominal hysterectomy.