Background and objectives: Thoracotomy is considered the most painful of surgical procedures and providing
adequate analgesia is the onus for all anaesthesiologists. This study investigated the efficacy of the ultrasoundguided erector spinae plane (ESP) block in analgesia after thoracotomies.
Patients and methods: Sixty patients with American Society of Anesthesiology physical status (ASA-PS) I–IV, aged
more than 18 years were allocated to two groups, ESP group which received the ESP block and C (control) group
with no block. Single-shot U/S-guided ESP block with 20 ml 0.25% bupivacaine at the 5th thoracic vertebral level
was performed preoperatively in the ESP group. Postoperative 24 h morphine consumption and pain scores were
compared between the groups. Also, the side effects of opioid usage were compared.
Main results: Postoperative morphine consumption was 22.06 ± 6.24 mg in the ESP group and 30.6 ± 6.23 mg in
the C group (p < 0.001). Results showed that there was a significant difference between both groups in favour of
the ESP group regarding visual analogue score (VAS) at rest and with coughing (p < 0.001).
Conclusion: Our study findings show that US-guided ESP block exhibits a significant analgesic effect in patients
undergoing thoracotomy surgery.
Trial registration: ClinicalTrials.gov, NCT03749395. Registered 13 November 2018