BACKGROUND: The most common treatment modality for postoperative pain relief following laparoscopic surgery is multimodal, using nonsteroidal antiinflammatory drugs (NSAID), opioids, and infiltration of local anesthetics. Because NSAIDs are nephrotoxic, local infiltration does not relieve deep tissue pain, and opioids have an adverse effects profile including pruritus, nausea, vomiting, oversedation, apnea, and decreased gastrointestinal motility. Therefore, the use of a regional analgesic technique can lead to an improved quality of recovery. The aim of this prospective, randomized, placebo-controlled study was to evaluate the effect of TAP block on postoperative verbal analog scale (VAS) scores and total morphine requirements in the first 24 hours after laparoscopic live donor nephrectomy.

MATERIAL AND METHODS: After obtaining approval from the hospital ethics committee and written informed consent from the patients, 49 ASA I-II patients undergoing laparoscopic donor nephrectomy, aged 18 years or over, were included in this prospective, randomized, controlled study. In this clinical trial patients were divided into 2 groups: TAP block group (group T) and placebo group (group P). The demographic variables, pain scores, morphine consumption, level of sedation, presence of postoperative nausea, vomiting, pruritus, and average length of postoperative stay were reviewed.

RESULTS: The pain scores were significantly lower after TAP block with bupivacaine at most but not all time points. Patients receiving the TAP block with bupivacaine required less morphine up to 24 hours after surgery compared with the saline group.

CONCLUSIONS: USG-guided TAP block as part of a balanced analgesia regimen is of benefit in reducing postoperative pain and morphine consumption after laparoscopic donor nephrectomy.

Keywords: Anesthesia, Conduction, Hand-Assisted Laparoscopy, Postoperative Care