Evaluation of the Preemptive Analgesic Efficacy of Ultrasound Guided Quadratus Lumborum Block in Nephrectomy

Abstract

ephrectomy is a particularly painful procedure especially the open type rather than the laparoscopic type. Inadequately controlled postoperative pain may have harmful physiologic and psychological consequences which may extend beyond the acute pain to chronic pain syndrome. The pre-emptive analgesia can pre-empt the surgery-induced acute pain and development of chronic pain by preventing the neurophysiological and biochemical modulation of the nervous system. In the past few years, the loco-regional analgesic modalities including the abdominal field blocks have been increasingly used as a part of the multimodal analgesia. The main advantage is to decrease the parenteral opioids requirements and improve the quality of post-operative pain control. The quadratus lumborum block (QLB) has been commonly advocated for surgical pain relief after different types of abdominal surgery including nephrectomy. The aim of this study is to evaluate the preemptive analgesic efficacy of ultrasound guided lateral quadratus lumborum block during the intraoperative period of nephrectomy regarding opioids sparing effect and at the early postoperative period regarding pain relief, early mobilization and opioids sparing effect.