Ultrasound-Guided Suprazygomatic Maxillary Nerve Block Is Effective in Reducing Postoperative Opioid Use Following...

Ultrasound-guided maxillary nerve block has recently been described, though its impact upon bimaxillary osteotomy has not been formally investigated.

The present study was carried out to determine whether the addition of ultrasound-guided maxillary nerve block in subjects undergoing bimaxillary osteotomy reduces opioid use.

A randomized clinical trial was carried out in adults undergoing bimaxillary osteotomy between April 2019 and January 2020 at Teknon Medical Center (Barcelona, Spain).

The predictor variable was the treatment technique used (maxillary nerve block or no block). The subjects were randomized to either receive (test group) or not receive (control group) bilateral ultrasound-guided suprazygomatic maxillary nerve block (5 ml of 0.37% ropivacaine) before surgery.

The primary outcome variable was the intravenous methadone requirements in the first two postoperative hours. The secondary outcome variables were postoperative pain, rescue subcutaneous methadone, intravenous remifentanil used intraoperatively, the incidence of postoperative nausea-vomiting, and complications derived from maxillary nerve block.

Subject age, sex, weight, height, and anesthetic risk, and the duration of surgery were recorded.

Descriptive and inferential analyses were performed using the χ² test and Mann-Whitney U test. Statistical significance was considered for P < .05.

The baseline sample consisted of 68 subjects scheduled for bimaxillary osteotomy. The follow-up sample comprised 60 subjects: 30 in the control group (10 females and 20 males, aged 34.0 ± 10.2 years) and 30 in the test group (13 females and 17 males, aged 29.8 ± 10.8 years). The subjects who received maxillary nerve block showed less intravenous methadone use in the first 2 hours postsurgery (median 2.0 mg control group vs 0 mg test group; P < .001), lower pain levels at any time during the first 18 hours postsurgery (median visual analog score 4 control group vs 2 test group; P < .001), and a lesser percentage required methadone (33.3% control group vs 0% test group; P < .01) at 4-18 hours postsurgery.

The results obtained suggest that ultrasound-guided maxillary nerve block is a promising anesthetic technique capable of reducing intraoperative and postoperative opioid use, with greater patient comfort in bimaxillary osteotomy.