Iliohypogastric and ilioinguinal block for postsurgical analgesia after pfannenstiel cesarean section performed under general anaesthesia

Abstract

The Iliohypogastric and Ilioinguinal bilate. ral block with 0.5% bupivacaine can provide analgesia after Pfannenstiel cesarean section although the required amount of the drug is near the maximum secure dose. We designed this study in order to compare the analgesic effect of 0.5% bupivacaine and diluted 0.25% bupivacaine. Thirty patients were included in the study and asigned in aleatory form to either a study (0.25% bupivacaine n=15) or a control group (0.5% bupivacaine n=15).

They were evaluated with the Visual Analogue Scale (VAS) at 0,4,8,12,24 postoperative hours by physicians who did not know the group of the patient and prescribed intramuscular analgesia with Dicofenac only if required. The analgesia scores and the complementery analgesia requirements were similar in both groups and there were no significative differences. We conclude that this nerve block is an effective analgesic technique (pain was always under 4 in the VAS), unaffected by the anesthetic dilution and furthermore that it is a safe technique since there were no complications derived from the procedure.