Impact of paravertebral blockade use in geriatric patients undergoing thoracic surgery on postoperative adverse...

While it is known that thoracic paravertebral blockade (TPVB) could reduce pain undergoing thoracic surgery, it has not been confirmed whether this reduction in pain reduces pulmonary complications in an elderly population.

We performed a monocentric retrospective analysis for a prospectively collected patients receiving thoracic surgery with or without intraoperative TPVB between November 7, 2018 and April 1, 2019, at Shanghai Chest Hospital. Whether or not to use TPVB depending on anesthesiologists' preference, the chances of harm and benefit of each patients after discussed with their anesthetist. Chest wall resection, bilateral lung resection, conversion to thoracotomy and ipsilateral reoperation were excluded. A total of 154 patients with lung operations were included in the final analysis, 34 of whom received general anesthesia combined with TPVB (GA-TPVB). The primary outcome was the incidence of postoperative pulmonary complications (PPCs). The secondary outcomes were the incidence of cardiovascular and other complications, required analgesia in post anesthesia care unit (PACU), patient controlled analgesia (PCA) pressing frequency in 24h, chest tube duration, ICU stay and the hospital length of stay (LOS).

The incidence of PPCs undergoing thoracic surgery was about 21.4% (33/154). Compared with GA, GA-TPVB could reduce the incidence of PPCs (25% vs. 9%, P=0.042), mostly reduce postoperative atelectasis (19% vs. 3%, P=0.021). TPVB could reduce the rate of required analgesia in PACU, PCA pressing frequency in 24 h and chest tube duration. However, there were no significant differences on the rate of cardiovascular and other complications, ICU stay and LOS between the two groups (P>0.05). Multivariable logistic regression analysis identified preoperative DLCO% ≥92% (OR =0.293, P=0.006), duration of surgery <75 min (OR =0.278, P=0.008) and GA-TPVB (OR =0.270, P=0.048) was associated with fewer PPCs.

Our study shows that general anesthesia combined with TPVB may reduce PPCs by reducing postoperative pain in geriatric patients undergoing thoracic surgery compared with general anesthesia alone.

Chinese Clinical Trial Registry number, ChiCTR1800019526. Registered on Nov 7, 2018.