• Antonio Toscano, Paolo Capuano, Andrea Costamagna, Carlo Burzio, Marco Ellena, Valentina Scala, Daniela Pasero, Mauro Rinaldi, and Luca Brazzi.
• Department of Anesthesia and Critical Care, Città della Salute e della Scienza di Torino, University of Turin, Turin, Italy. Electronic address: antoniotoscano@me.com.
• J. Cardiothorac. Vasc. Anesth. 2020 Nov 1; 34 (11): 2975-2982.

ObjectiveRegional anesthesia with thoracic wall blocks could represent an opioid-sparing alternative for mitral valve surgery in right minithoracotomy (mini-MVS). For the present study, an opioid-free analgesia using continuous deep serratus anterior plane block was compared with intravenous morphine.DesignProspective, observational cohort study.SettingAzienda Ospedaliero Universitaria Città della Salute e della Scienza di Torino, University of Turin, Italy.ParticipantsThe present study enrolled patients who underwent mini-MVS from March to October 2019 (63 patients) and divided them into the following 2 groups, according to pain control strategy: a morphine group and a serratus anterior plane (SAP) group.InterventionsPrimary outcomes were pain evaluation and total postoperative opioid consumption, and secondary outcomes were incidence of postoperative nausea and vomiting, time to extubation, mechanical ventilation duration, and bowel dysfunction.Measurements And Main ResultsThe mean number rating scale at 24 hours was 2.15 (95% confidence interval [CI] 1.22-3.09) in the SAP group versus 3.23 (95% CI 2.28-4.29) in the morphine group (p = 0.07), whereas the mean number rating scale at 48 hours was significantly less in the SAP group compared with the morphine group (1.77 [95% CI 0.99-2.54] v 3.23 [95% CI 2.13-4.33], respectively; p = 0.03). Mean morphine consumption at 48 postoperative hours was 12.98 mg (95% CI 10.90-15.05 mg) in the morphine group and 2.22 mg (95% CI 0.99-3.44 mg) in the SAP group; p < 0.01. Cumulative morphine consumption at 24 postoperative hours was 10.44 mg (95% CI 8.36-12.52) in the morphine group and 1.16 mg (95% CI 0.37-1.95) in the SAP group; p < 0.01. There were no significant differences for secondary outcomes.ConclusionsContinuous deep serratus anterior plane block seems to be a valid alternative to intravenous opioids in terms of efficacy for patients undergoing mini-MVS with a lower opioid requirement.Copyright © 2020 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

18 keywords...

hide…