Background: Inadequate post-cesarean delivery (Post-CS) pain may delay early convalescence and increase the incidence of complications with prolonging hospital stay.
Objectives: To compare the efficiency of Ultrasound-guided Transversus Abdominis Plane (USG-TAP) block to intravenous patient-controlled analge-sia (IV-PCA) for management of post-cesarean delivery pain in rural areas.
Method: One hundred ASA I and II women assigned for CS were divided into USG-TAP block group and IV-PCA morphine group. USG-TAP block was performed using 0.25% iso-baric bupivacaine 15-ml on both sides, and IV-PCA morphine group received basal infusion of 1 mg/hr, 1.5 mg bolus with 10-min lockout interval. Out-comes included postoperative (PO) visual analogue scale (VAS) pain scores determination, 24-hr total opi-oid consumption and frequency of sedation, nausea and vomiting.
Result: PO pain VAS scores and fre-quency of rescue analgesia requests showed non-significant difference be-tween groups. However, the difference in frequency of PO sedation was sig-nificantly higher, while frequency of nausea and vomiting was non-significantly different between both groups.
Conclusion: In rural areas, for Post-CS pain management, USG-TAP block is an effective method as IV-PCA and relatively safe procedure