The British journal of surgery
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Randomized Controlled Trial
Randomized clinical trial of perioperative nerve block and continuous local anaesthetic infiltration via wound catheter versus epidural analgesia in open liver resection (LIVER 2 trial).
Analgesia after liver surgery remains controversial. A previous randomized trial of continuous wound infiltration (CWI) versus thoracic epidural analgesia (TEA) after liver surgery (LIVER trial) showed a faster recovery time in the wound infiltration group but better early postoperative pain scores in the TEA group. High-level evidence is, however, limited and opinion remains divided. The aim was to determine whether there is a difference in functional recovery time between patients having CWI plus abdominal nerve blocks versus TEA after liver resection. ⋯ NCT01747122 ( http://www.clinicaltrials.gov).