ABSTRACT
Objective:To evaluate the effects of ultrasound-guided quadratus lumborum block (QLB) on acute pain after total hip arthroplasty.Methods:A retrospective study was conducted of the 36 patients with hip osteoarthritis who had undergone selective one-side total hip arthroplasty under total intravenous anesthesia (TIVA) from January 2019 to January 2020. According to whether additional QLB was used or not they were divided into 2 equal groups ( n=18). The control group of 10 males and 8 females with an age of 60.5±9.4 years used mere TIVA while the QLB group of 7 males and 11 females with an age of 53.6±12.7 years used TIVA plus QLB. All patients accepted patient-controlled intravenous analgesia (PCIA) postoperatively. The 2 groups were compared in terms of visual analogue scale (VAS) at rest and during exercise and IL-6 level at 24 h postoperation, consumption of opioids and postoperative incidence of nausea and vomiting. Results:There were no significant differences between the 2 groups in their preoperative general data, indicating they were compatible ( P>0.05). The VAS scores at rest and during exercise in the QLB group (0.3 ± 0.5 and 0.8 ± 0.6) were significantly lower than in the control group (2.1 ± 0.7 and 2.7 ± 0.5), the IL-6 level in the former[40.9 (30.5, 56.3) pg/mL] was significantly lower than in the latter[165.0 (82.5, 276.5) pg/mL], the intraoperative total consumptions of sufentanil[6 (6, 7) μg] and remifentanil[1,370 (1,200, 1,485) μg] in the former were significantly lower than in the latter[35 (30, 40) μg and 1, 910 (1, 805, 2, 000) μg], and the postoperative incidenceof nausea and vomiting[27.8%(5/18)] in the former was significantly lower than in the latter[77.8%(14/18)] (all P<0.05). Conclusions:Ultrasound-guided quadratus lumborum block can effectively relieve acute pain in patients after total hip arthroplasty. It can suppress stress-related inflammatory factors, reduce consumption of opioids and incidence of postoperative nausea and vomiting.