Erector Spinae Plane Block and Pain Management in Cardiac Surgery

After Patient's information and consent from the Ethical committee of VinMec Healthcare (#06/2017/HDD-VMEC) the anesthesia team will perform to all adult patients for open heart surgery after the anesthesia induction a bilateral insertion of an Erector Spinae Plane Block catheter under ultrasound guidance The Block performance :

Patient in right lateral decubitus. The anesthesiologist will use an high-frequency linear ultrasound transducer sagitally at T4 level to identify the lateral extremity of the T4 transverse process (Logic E GE USE). After inserting in plane a Tuohy needle 80 mm 18G the anesthesiologist will locate the tip of the needle and confirm by hydrodissection the inter-fascial space between the inter-transverse ligament anteriorly and the fascia of the Erector Spinae Muscle posteriorly . He will insert under ultrasound vision a catheter (Perifix B.Braun Germany) . The anesthesiologist check the right position of the catheter with a dextrose 5% injection = 2mL under ultrasound vision and see the spread of the Dextrose between in the inter-fascial space. This procedure will be bilateral. The catheter will have a yellow label on the Huer®-Lock connector to identify clearly that it is regional analgesia catheter to prevent any errors in these patients will a lot of catheters.

After this control an induction dose of Ropivacaine (0.5%) 0.25mL/Kg is injected in each catheter ( Loading dose).

8 h after a automatic infusion of Ropivacaine (0.2%) will be infused throw the 2 ESP catheters the infusion regimen will be Intermittent automatic bolus every 6h. on each catheter. The bolus on the second catheter will be delayed by 1 hour to minor the maximal plasmatic concentration.

Volume of the bolus:

For 40 to 50 kg patient the volume of intermittent automatic bolus will be 6 mL/ 6H/ Side For 50 to 60 kg patient the volume of intermittent automatic bolus will be 8 mL / 6H/ Side For 60 to 70 kg patient the volume of intermittent automatic bolus will be 10 mL / 6H/ Side For a 70 kg and > 1.70 m Patient the volume of intermittent automatic bolus will be 12 mL / 6H/ Side

If the block extension is not enough additional bolus by clinician only of 8 mL maximum 3 per day and 1 hour after the last automatic bolus delivered

If the analgesia is not efficient after 1 additional bolus the catheters will be removed and we will prescribe the classical IV analgesia as before.

The regional analgesia will be up to 4 hours after mediastinal drain removal and a maximum of 76h. after catheter incision

A Bi Daily inspection of the catheters insertion points will be done. If redness around puncture point the catheters will be removed and shift to classical IV analgesia to prevent any infection.

The criteria studied will be:

Consumption of opioids at 48h Variation of Blood pressure during sternotomy Level of pain at rest and mob after the surgery Time to extubate the patient Early mobilisation after surgery the quality of thorax expansion Level of pain 1 month after the surgery and limited activity at one month

The control group was an historical group of twenty consecutive patients, operated by the same surgeons from June 8th 2017 and August 1th 2017 and matched with the studied group, in which data were noted just before the introduction of ESB in the ERAS program. All data from the control group come from the centralized computer network of patient records at Vinmec University Hospital.