• Kazumi Ono, Tetsuya Danura, Yusuke Koyama, and Hidekuni Hidaka.
• Department of Anesthesia, Fukuyama City Hospital, Fukuyama 721 8511.
• Masui. 2005 Nov 1;54(11):1273-6.

BackgroundThoracic paravertebral block (TPVB) is reportedly a useful alternative of general anesthesia (GA) for patients undergoing major breast surgery. To provide surgical anesthesia by TPVB alone, however, demands considerable patient's discomfort during neural block and during surgery. This study was undertaken to investigate if TPVB adds to patient satisfaction when combined with GA for breast cancer surgery.MethodsIn 26 women (ASA I * II) undergoing modified radical mastectomy with axillary dissection, TPVB was performed at T 1 level and 15 ml of 0.5% ropivacaine was injected prior to induction of general anesthesia. After surgery, VAS (visual analogue scale, 0-100 mm) pain scores and postoperative medication were recorded. These data with TPVB were compared with those of 17 patients who had previously undergone similar surgical procedure without TPVB in our hospital.ResultsThe VAS scores in patients with TPVB were 34 +/- 45 mm (mean +/- SD) on admission to the recovery room and 15 +/- 5 mm next morning. Frequency of postoperative administration of analgesics in patients with TPVB was significantly less than those without TPVB.ConclusionsAbove findings suggest that combined use of TPVB and GA may be a preferable choice of anesthesia for patients undergoing major breast cancer surgery.

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