Transversus Abdominis Plane (TAP) Block: A Comparative Study between Levobupivacaine versus Levobupivacaine plus Ketamine in Abdominoplasty.

PURPOSE

We conducted this study to explore the hypothesis that the addition of ketamine to levobupivacaine in ultrasound-guided Transversus Abdominis Plane (TAP) block would result in a better and prolonged duration of postoperative analgesia for patients undergoing abdominoplasty. . This randomized prospective study was conducted on 50 patients who were scheduled for abdominoplasty. TAP block was performed bilaterally for all patients either with levobupivacaine 0.5% 15 ml plus ketamine 0.5 mg/kg in a total volume of 20 ml in the LK group ( = 25) or with levobupivacaine 0.5% 15 ml plus 5 ml normal saline in a total volume of 20 ml in the L group on each side.

RESULTS

Visual analogue scale (VAS) was significantly lower in the LK group in resting condition at 6, 12, and 16 h postoperatively compared to the L group. On movement, the VAS was significantly lower at 4, 6, 8, 12, 16, and 24 h postoperatively in the LK group compared to the L group. The time for first rescue analgesia was longer in the LK group (18.7 ± 4.8 h) than that in the L group (6.5 ± 2.4 h) with the reduced total amount of rescue morphine in the LK group (1.14 ± 2.2 mg) versus the L group (5.86 ± 3.6 mg). Only six patients in the LK group requested rescue morphine, whereas nineteen patients requested rescue morphine in the L group.

CONCLUSIONS

In TAP block, adding ketamine 0.5 mg/kg enhanced the analgesic efficacy of levobupivacaine 0.5% in patients undergoing abdominoplasty and reduced the required analgesics postoperatively.