Sacral ESP for pain management in transforaminal lumbar interbody fusion cases: A case series

Lumbar erector spinae plane block (ESPB) is effective for spine surgeries but is deep and technically demanding. Sacral ESPB is a novel approach for sacrococcygeal procedures and can potentially cover lumbar dermatomes by the cranial drug spread. This is the first reported case series demonstrating the potential analgesic efficacy of sacral ESPB for lumbar spine surgeries. Five patients with radiculopathy at the lumbosacral area level were scheduled for transforaminal lumbar interbody fusion (TLIF). General anaesthesia was induced as per standard practice. All patients received sacral ESP in a prone position under ultrasound guidance with a needle inserted in-plane while targeting the fascial plane between the S2 median crest and overlying muscles. All the included patients had good analgesia in the postoperative period and required minimal opioid analgesic doses. Sacral ESPB is an easy, effective, and safe technique in the scheme of multimodal analgesia for TLIF surgeries as a component of pre-emptive analgesia, where the main goal is an opioid-sparing effect.