TAP block efficacy in laparoscopic TAPP

INTRODUCTION: The effectiveness of transversus abdominis plane (TAP) block has been shown in recent studies to provide post-operative analgesia in abdominal surgeries. Local anesthetic drugs used in TAP block are generally cheaper and have less side effects than drugs used for post-operative analgesia. We investigated the effectiveness of TAP block in order to reduce the cost and side effects of analgesic drug use in patients after laparoscopic TAPP (transabdominal pre-peritoneal) operations.
METHODS: The data of 52 patients who underwent laparoscopic TAPP for inguinal hernia be-tween January 2020 and July 2021 in the Department of General Surgery were retrospectively analyzed. Patients who had been operated for inguinal hernia with open procedure and patients younger than 18 years of age were selected as the exclusion criteria.
RESULTS: TAP block was applied to 26 of the patients. The mean visual analog scale (VAS) scores of the patients who underwent TAP block were 2.5, 2.12, and 1.12 at the post-operative 0, 6, and 24 h, respectively. The mean VAS scores of the patients who did not experience TAP block were 5.38, 3.04, and 1.5 at the post-operative 0, 6, and 24 h, respectively. The mean VAS score of the patient group in whom TAP block was applied was lower in all measurements, the greatest difference was at the post-operative 0th h, followed by the 6th h. There was no difference between the groups in terms of the mean VAS score at the 24th h.
DISCUSSION AND CONCLUSION: In our study, the need for post-operative analgesics is lower in patients who underwent TAP block, due to less pain at the post-operative 0th and 6th h.