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The Effect of Ultrasound Guided Superficial Cervical Plexus Block on Postoperative Opioid Consumption in Patients Undergoing Anterior Cervical Discectomy and Fusion Surgery: A Prospective, Randomized Controlled Study

INTRODUCTION: Anterior cervical discectomy and fusion (ACDF) surgery is a procedure that can cause moderate pain in the postoperative period. Superficial cervical block (SCB) is a regional anesthesia technique that can provide analgesia during and after surgery. The aim of this study is to investigate the effect of ultrasound-guided SCB block on pain scores and postoperative opioid consumption in patients undergoing ACDF surgery. METHODS: 48 patients planned to undergo single or two levels of ACDF surgery were randomly divided into two groups, SCB and Control (C). Ultrasonography (USG) guided SCB was performed in the SCB group (n=24) with 10 mL of 0.25% bupivacaine. No attempt was made to the control group (n=24) before the operation. Intravenous 50 mg dexketoprofen was administered to both groups half an hour before the end of the operation and at the 12th hour postoperatively. Patient controlled analgesia (PCA) device containing fentanyl was initiated. Postoperative visual analog scale (VAS) scores, opioid consumption, need for rescue analgesia and side effects were recorded. RESULTS: There was no statistically significant difference between the groups in terms of demographic data, anesthesia and surgery times. Compared to the control group, VAS scores were statistically low at all measurement times in the SCB group (p <0.05). The 24-hour total opioid consumption was statistically significantly higher in the control group than in the SCB group (375.83±235.96 µg vs. 112.50±102.41 µg, respectively p<0.001). The need of rescue analgesia was statistically higher in the control group than the SCB group (12/24 vs. 0/24, respectively, p <0.001). DISCUSSION AND CONCLUSION: We believe that USG-guided SCB can be an effective component of the multimodal analgesia protocol by reducing opioid consumption and pain scores in patients undergoing ACDF surgery.