The effect of sono-guided brachial plexus block on postoperative pain control for arthroscopic shoulder surgery: comparison with general anesthesia

ABSTRACT

BACKGROUND: Interscalene brachial plexus block (IS-BPB) offers many advantages over general anesthesia for both arthroscopic and open surgeries of the shoulder, including shorter hospital stay, reduced postoperative analgesia requirements, and avoidance of the risks and side effects of general anesthesia. The purpose of this study was to compare the effectiveness of postoperative pain control by IS-BPB to general anesthesia for performing arthroscopic shoulder surgery. METHODS: Sixty patients were divided into three groups general anesthesia (group A, n=20), general anesthesia and suprascapular nerve block (SSNB) (group B, n=20), and only IS-BPB(group C, n=20). All patients received patient-controlled analgesia (PCA), and were instructed to rate their pain using a visual analogue scale (VAS) ranging from 0 to 10. VAS was measured at 1, 4, 8, 12, and 24 hours after surgery. Hospital stays were recorded. RESULTS: VAS decreased significantly with time in group A and B (P < 0.05) (Fig. 1), but not in group C. Group C had less pain at 1, 4, 8, 12, 24, hours postoperatively than the other groups (P < 0.05) (Fig. 1). Group C had shorter hospital stays than the other groups (P < 0.05) (Fig. 2). CONCLUSIONS: IS-BPB results in less postoperative pain and a shorter hospital stay than general anesthesia for arthroscopic shoulder surgery (P < 0.05).