Effect of Bilateral Quadratus Lumborum Block for Pain Relief in Patients With Cesarean Section

Summary

Cesarean section commonly induces moderate to severe pain for 48 hours. These patients have additional compelling reasons to provide adequate pain relief as early mobilization is a key factor to prevent the risk of thromboembolic event which is increased during pregnancy. Beside these, patients need to be pain free to takecare for their newborn and breastfeed them. Poorly controlled pain after cesarean section also increases risk of chronic pain and postpartum depression. Intrathecal morphine is considered the "gold standard" for postoperative pain relief after cesarean delivery. The duration of analgesic effect of morphine extend to 12-24 hours. Its widespread use is due to its favorable pharmacokinetic profile, ease of administration and low cost. Although intrathecal morphine is highly effective, its use is associated with undesirable adverse effect particularly nausea, vomiting and pruritus which reduce overall patients' satisfaction. More serious complication is the risk of delayed maternal respiratory depression. The Quadratus Lumborum block was first described in 2007 which demonstrates a spread to the paravertebral space, thus leads to a more extensive block to T5-L1 nerve branches and a long lasting block with the potential to provide visceral pain relief. Therefore, this block has an evolving role in postoperative analgesia for many lower abdominal surgeries. As the safety is concerned, there has been one report of a patient with unilateral hip flexion and knee extension weakness leading to unplanned overnight admission following lateral quadratus lumborum block after laparoscopic gynaecological operation. If the result favors effective, it will have the advantage of a combination with intrathecal opioid to prolong the pain free period after cesarean section which has about 4,000 cases per year.

Timeline

Start

2017-09-01

Primary completion

2019-01-01

Completion

2019-08-01

Publications

• Background Eisenach JC, Pan PH, Smiley R, Lavand'homme P, Landau R, Houle TT. Severity of acute pain after childbirth, but not type of delivery, predicts persistent pain and postpartum depression. Pain. 2008 Nov 15;140(1):87-94. doi: 10.1016/j.pain.2008.07.011. Epub 2008 Sep 24.
• Background Weibel S, Neubert K, Jelting Y, Meissner W, Wockel A, Roewer N, Kranke P. Incidence and severity of chronic pain after caesarean section: A systematic review with meta-analysis. Eur J Anaesthesiol. 2016 Nov;33(11):853-865. doi: 10.1097/EJA.0000000000000535.
• Background Dahl JB, Jeppesen IS, Jorgensen H, Wetterslev J, Moiniche S. Intraoperative and postoperative analgesic efficacy and adverse effects of intrathecal opioids in patients undergoing cesarean section with spinal anesthesia: a qualitative and quantitative systematic review of randomized controlled trials. Anesthesiology. 1999 Dec;91(6):1919-27. doi: 10.1097/00000542-199912000-00045. No abstract available.
• Background Triyasunant N, Chinachoti T, Duangburong S. Direct Field Block with 40 ML of 0.125% Bupivacaine in Conjunction with Intrathecal Morphine for Analgesia after Cesarean Section: A Randomized Controlled Trial. J Med Assoc Thai. 2015 Oct;98(10):1001-9.
• Background Kadam VR. Ultrasound-guided quadratus lumborum block as a postoperative analgesic technique for laparotomy. J Anaesthesiol Clin Pharmacol. 2013 Oct;29(4):550-2. doi: 10.4103/0970-9185.119148.
• Background Carney J, Finnerty O, Rauf J, Bergin D, Laffey JG, Mc Donnell JG. Studies on the spread of local anaesthetic solution in transversus abdominis plane blocks. Anaesthesia. 2011 Nov;66(11):1023-30. doi: 10.1111/j.1365-2044.2011.06855.x. Epub 2011 Aug 18.
• Background Baidya DK, Maitra S, Arora MK, Agarwal A. Quadratus lumborum block: an effective method of perioperative analgesia in children undergoing pyeloplasty. J Clin Anesth. 2015 Dec;27(8):694-6. doi: 10.1016/j.jclinane.2015.05.006. Epub 2015 Jul 11. No abstract available.
• Background Blanco R, Ansari T, Girgis E. Quadratus lumborum block for postoperative pain after caesarean section: A randomised controlled trial. Eur J Anaesthesiol. 2015 Nov;32(11):812-8. doi: 10.1097/EJA.0000000000000299.
• Background Blanco R, Ansari T, Riad W, Shetty N. Quadratus Lumborum Block Versus Transversus Abdominis Plane Block for Postoperative Pain After Cesarean Delivery: A Randomized Controlled Trial. Reg Anesth Pain Med. 2016 Nov/Dec;41(6):757-762. doi: 10.1097/AAP.0000000000000495.
• Background Shaaban M, Esa WA, Maheshwari K, Elsharkawy H, Soliman LM. Bilateral Continuous Quadratus Lumborum Block for Acute Postoperative Abdominal Pain as a Rescue After Opioid-Induced Respiratory Depression. A A Case Rep. 2015 Oct 1;5(7):107-11. doi: 10.1213/XAA.0000000000000188.
• Background Wikner M. Unexpected motor weakness following quadratus lumborum block for gynaecological laparoscopy. Anaesthesia. 2017 Feb;72(2):230-232. doi: 10.1111/anae.13754. Epub 2016 Nov 28.
• Pangthipampai P, Dejarkom S, Poolsuppasit S, Luansritisakul C, Tangchittam S. Bilateral posterior Quadratus Lumborum block for pain relief after cesarean delivery: a randomized controlled trial. BMC Anesthesiol. 2021 Mar 25;21(1):90. doi: 10.1186/s12871-021-01309-6.

Drugs

Indications

No indication recorded.