Deep Parasternal Intercostal Plane Block for Intraoperative Pain Control in Cardiac Surgical Patients for Sternotomy: A Prospective Randomized Controlled Trial

Objectives: Sternotomy pain is common after cardiac surgery. The deep parasternal intercostal plane (DPIP) block is a novel technique that provides analgesia to the anterior chest wall. The aim of this study was to investigate the analgesic effect of bilateral DPIP blocks on intraoperative pain control in cardiac surgery. Design: This is a double-blinded, prospective randomized controlled trial (Oct 2020-Dec 2022). Settings: This study was conducted in a single institution, which is an academic university hospital. Participants: Eighty-six elective cardiac surgical patients with median sternotomy were recruited. Interventions: Patients were randomly divided into DPIP or control group. Either 20ml 0.25% levobupivacaine or 0.9% normal saline was injected for the DPIP under ultrasound guidance after induction of general anaesthesia. Measurements and Main Results: The primary outcome was intraoperative opioids consumption and hemodynamic changes at sternotomy. Secondary outcomes included postoperative morphine consumption, postoperative pain and time to tracheal extubation. Intraoperative opioids requirement was reduced from a median (IQR) intravenous morphine equivalence of 21.4mg (13.8-24.3mg) in control group to 9.5mg (7.311.2mg) in the DPIP group (P<0.001). Hemodynamic parameters were more stable in DPIP group at sternotomy, as evidenced by lower percentage increase in systolic, diastolic and mean arterial blood pressure from baseline. No difference was observed in time to tracheal extubation, postoperative morphine consumption, postoperative pain score and spirometry. Conclusions: Bilateral DPIP block provides effective intraoperative analgesia and opioid-sparing. It may be included as part of the multimodal analgesia for enhanced recovery in cardiac surgery. (c) 2023 The Author(s). Published by Elsevier Inc. This is an open access article under the CC BY-NC-ND license