[ABDOMINAL WALL BLOCKS FOR POST CESAREAN DELIVERY ANALGESIA]

Intrathecal morphine administration at the time of neuraxial anesthesia performance is the gold standard for post-cesarean delivery (CD) analgesia. When intrathecal morphine administration is inappropriate or contraindicated, the use of systemic analgesic options increase side effects and risks to both the parturient and the breastfeeding neonate. Moreover, systemic analgesia is often inadequate. The increased clinical use of ultrasound has made way for regional analgesia techniques, mostly in the form of local anesthesia injected between muscular planes. The transversus abdominis plane (TAP) block is the most well-known and the most commonly used for Cesarean delivery. It has been shown to be effective in the absence of intrathecal morphine administration. It has however, not been shown to be beneficial when intrathecal morphine has been administered. Other, newer techniques are being increasingly used and investigated. Some may prove to be superior to the TAP block. These techniques include: ilioinguinal/ilio-hypogastric nerve blocks (II-IH), the quadratus lumborum (QL) blocks and the erector spinae plane (ESP) block. In this review, we will discuss and assess these techniques regarding analgesia following CD.