Limitations of Patient-Controlled Epidural Analgesia Following Abdominoplasty

Effective postoperative pain management is essential for patient satisfaction and an uneventful postoperative course, particularly in body contouring procedures. Systemic analgesic regimens can be supported by regional procedures, such as the transverse abdominis plane (TAP) block, but these have a limited duration of action. In contrast, thoracic epidural analgesia offers the possibility of a longer-lasting, individualized regional anesthesia administered by a patient-controlled analgesia pump.

The aim of this study was to investigate the effects of a patient-controlled epidural analgesia to better classify the clinical value of this procedure in abdominoplasties.

This work reviewed the digital medical charts of patients who underwent selective abdominoplasty without combined surgical procedures between September 2018 and August 2022. Evaluated data comprise the postoperative analgesia regimen, including on-demand medication, mobilization time, inpatient length of stay, and clinical outcome. The patients were grouped by the presence of a thoracic epidural catheter. This catheter was placed before anesthetic induction and a saturation dose was preoperatively applied. Postoperative PCEA patients received a basal rate and could independently administer boluses. Basal rate was individually adjusted during daily additional pain visits.

The study cohort included 112 patients. Significant differences in the demand for supportive nonepidural opiate medication were shown between the patient-controlled epidural analgesia (PCEA) group (n = 57) and the non-PCEA group (n = 55), depending on the time after surgery. PCEA patients demanded less medication during the early postoperative days (POD 0: PCEA 0.13 (±0.99) mg vs non-PCEA 2.59 (±4.55) mg, P = 0.001; POD 1: PCEA 0.79 mg (±3.06) vs non-PCEA 2.73 (±3.98) mg, P = 0.005), but they required more during the later postoperative phase (POD 3: PCEA 2.76 (±5.60) mg vs non-PCEA 0.61 (±2.01) mg, P = 0.008; POD 4: PCEA 1.64 (±3.82) mg vs non-PCEA 0.07 (±2.01) mg, P = 0.003). In addition, PCEA patients achieved full mobilization later (PCEA 2.67 (±0.82) days vs non-PCEA 1.78 (±1.09) days, P = 0.001) and were discharged later (PCEA 4.84 (±1.23) days vs non-PCEA 4.31 (±1.37) days, P = 0.005).

Because the postoperative benefits of PCEA are limited to potent analgesia immediately after abdominoplasty, less cumbersome, time-limited regional anesthesia procedures (such as TAP block) appear not only adequate but also more effective.