• Akio Yamagishi, Osamu Takahata, Kenjiro Aoki, Hiroyasu Hirai, Hiroshi Yokota, and Hiroshi Iwasaki.
• Department of Anesthesiology and Critical Care Medicine, Asahikawa Medical College, Asahikawa.
• Masui. 2005 Sep 1; 54 (9): 1014-7.

BackgroundIt has been proposed that sensory block from the 10 th thoracic nerve (T 10) to the 1 st lumbar nerve (L1) is necessary for pain relief after cesarean section. However, we have experienced complaints of unsatisfactory pain relief from some patients in whom T 10-L 1 sensory block was achieved. We evaluated the relation between range of sensory block and satisfaction regarding pain relief in patients after cesarean section.MethodsPregnant patients after cesarean sections using continuous epidural infusion of 0.2% ropivacaine were allocated into two groups depending on the level of sensory block 6 hrs after surgery: below the T 10 level (T 10 group) and beyond the T 9 level (T 9 group). Degrees of satisfaction regarding pain relief and complications during a period of 16 hrs after surgery were compared.ResultsFifty patients were included in this study (21 in the T 10 group and 29 in the T 9 group). Sensory block in the T 9 group ranged from T 5 to T 9. The number of postoperative analgesics usage in the T 9 group was significantly less than that in the T 10 group.ConclusionsWe propose that sensory block ranging from T 5 to T 9 in addition to T 10-L 1 is necessary to obtain satisfactory pain relief after cesarean section.

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