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ORIGINAL RESEARCH article
Front. Surg.
Sec. Cardiovascular Surgery
Volume 12 - 2025 |
doi: 10.3389/fsurg.2025.1526890
Bilateral Parasternal and Rectus Sheath Blocks Reduce Pain Post-Cardiac Surgery: A Pilot Trial
Provisionally accepted- First Affiliated Hospital, Guangxi Medical University, Nanning, Guangxi Zhuang Region, China
Objective: This study aimed to investigate the effects of ultrasound-guided bilateral parasternal block (PSB) combined with rectus sheath block (RSB) on postoperative recovery quality in patients undergoing median sternotomy for cardiac surgery.Methods: Eighty patients were randomly assigned to either the intervention group (receiving PSB+RSB, n=40) or the control group (not receiving PSB+RSB, n=40). The primary outcome was opioid consumption within the first 24 hours postoperatively. Secondary outcomes included Visual Analog Scale (VAS) pain scores and various surgery and recovery-related parameters.The intervention group showed significantly reduced opioid consumption in the first 24 hours postoperatively compared to the control group (P<0.05), though no significant difference was observed at 48 hours postoperatively. VAS pain scores at extubation and at 12, 24, and 48 hours post-extubation were significantly lower in the intervention group (P<0.05).The intervention group also demonstrated superior Quality of Recovery-15 (QoR-15) scores at all observed time points compared to the control group (P<0.05), with no block-related adverse events. There were no significant differences in surgical and recovery-related parameters between the groups.Ultrasound-guided bilateral PSB combined with RSB effectively enhances postoperative analgesia and the quality of recovery in patients undergoing median sternotomy for cardiac surgery. The application of ultrasound-guided bilateral parasternal block combined with rectus sheath block in median sternotomy cardiac surgery offers a new pain management strategy that is both safe and highly effective. This approach reduces postoperative analgesic requirements and improves recovery quality for cardiac surgery patients.
Keywords: Median sternotomy, Parasternal block, Postoperative analgesia, Rectus sheath block, Ropivacaine
Received: 12 Nov 2024; Accepted: 24 Jan 2025.
Copyright: © 2025 Huang, Ouyang, He, Zhong, Liu, Lu and Chen. This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (CC BY). The use, distribution or reproduction in other forums is permitted, provided the original author(s) or licensor are credited and that the original publication in this journal is cited, in accordance with accepted academic practice. No use, distribution or reproduction is permitted which does not comply with these terms.
* Correspondence:
Yangsi Huang, First Affiliated Hospital, Guangxi Medical University, Nanning, 530021, Guangxi Zhuang Region, China
Chengdi Ouyang, First Affiliated Hospital, Guangxi Medical University, Nanning, 530021, Guangxi Zhuang Region, China
Fang He, First Affiliated Hospital, Guangxi Medical University, Nanning, 530021, Guangxi Zhuang Region, China
Guofeng Liu, First Affiliated Hospital, Guangxi Medical University, Nanning, 530021, Guangxi Zhuang Region, China
Yizhi Lu, First Affiliated Hospital, Guangxi Medical University, Nanning, 530021, Guangxi Zhuang Region, China
Yanhua Chen, First Affiliated Hospital, Guangxi Medical University, Nanning, 530021, Guangxi Zhuang Region, China
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