Efficacy of bilateral erector spinae plane block in the management of pain: current insights

Serkan Tulgar; Ali Ahiskalioglu; Alessandro De Cassai; Yavuz Gurkan

doi:10.2147/JPR.S182128

Efficacy of bilateral erector spinae plane block in the management of pain: current insights

J Pain Res. 2019 Aug 27:12:2597-2613. doi: 10.2147/JPR.S182128. eCollection 2019.

Authors

Serkan Tulgar¹, Ali Ahiskalioglu², Alessandro De Cassai³, Yavuz Gurkan⁴

Affiliations

¹ Department of Anesthesiology and Reanimation, Faculty of Medicine, Maltepe University, Istanbul, Turkey.
² Department of Anaesthesiology and Reanimation, School of Medicine, Ataturk University, Erzurum, Turkey.
³ Section of Anaesthesiology and Intensive Care, Department of Medicine (DIMED), University of Padua, Padua, Italy.
⁴ Department of Anesthesiology and Reanimation, Faculty of Medicine, Koç University, Istanbul, Turkey.

Abstract

Erector spinae plane block (ESPB) is a newly described interfascial plane block, and the number of articles on the bilateral application of ESPB is increasing in the literature. In this paper, in addition to analyzing bilateral ESPB cases and studies published so far, we aimed to review the relevant anatomy, describe the mechanism of spread of the injectant, demonstrate varying approaches to ESPB, and summarize case reports and clinical trials, as well as provide current insight on this emerging and popular block. Randomized controlled studies, comparative studies of ESPB versus other methods, and pharmacokinetic studies of bilateral applications must be the next step in clearly understanding bilateral ESPB.

Keywords: bilateral erector spinae block; interfascial plane blocks; regional anesthesia.