Rectus Sheath Block Improves Patient Recovery Following Open Aortic Surgery

Postoperative pain management remains a barrier to recovery following aortic surgery. Although epidural catheters help in adjunctive pain management, less is known about the use of rectus sheath blocks. We compared patient recovery following open abdominal aortic surgery (OAS) with and without adjunctive rectus block.

Adult patients undergoing open abdominal aortic aneurysm repair and aortobifemoral or aortoiliac bypass for occlusive disease were identified and stratified by use of general anesthesia alone (GA) versus adjunctive use of a rectus sheath block (GA + RB). A small number of patients with GA and concomitant epidural analgesia, along with patients that had retroperitoneal repairs, were not included in further analysis. Outcomes included time to extubation, intraoperative and postoperative morphine milligram equivalents (MME) utilization, length of stay, discharge MME, and postoperative complications. Categorial data were compared with Person Chi-Square tests or Fisher's exact tests. Continuous data were tested with independent t-tests or Mann-Whitney U-tests.

From January 2017 to April 2022, there were 106 patients who underwent open aortic surgery, 55 patients with GA alone, 39 with GA + RB, and 12 patients who had a GA with concomitant epidural analgesia. Between GA and GA + RB, patients were comparable in both groups in terms of age, BMI (body mass index), smoking history, hypertension, diabetes, CAD (coronary artery disease), COPD (chronic obstructive pulmonary disease), and ASA (American Society of Anesthesiologists) class and prior opioid use. Patients with GA + RB were more likely to have scheduled elective procedures (80% GA cohort vs. 94.9% RB, P = 0.040), and a lower incidence of retroperitoneal exposure (14.5% GA cohort vs. 0% RB, P = 0.019). Patients with GA + RB had shorter time to extubation than GA (84.6% < 12 hr vs. 44.4%, P < 0.001), greater rate of procedural ketamine usage (GA + RB: 61.5% vs. GA: 40.0%, P = 0.049), lower MME at first postoperative day (median MME GA + RB: 25.0 vs. GA: 67.5, P = 0.002), lower discharge MME (median MME GA + RB: 142.5 vs. GA: 225.0, P = 0.036), and overall shorter length of stay (median stay GA + RB: 5 vs. GA: 6 days, P = 0.006). Postoperative complications were similar between groups. Similar findings were found in the comparison between elective-only GA and GA + RB patients and after exclusion of patients who only had a single shot of regional anesthesia.

Patients that receive adjunctive rectus sheath blocks for pain control following OAS utilize fewer opioid medications during hospital stay and at discharge. Rectus sheath blocks represent an alternative option to other periprocedural analgesia following open aortic surgery.