Analysis of the impact of the type of anaesthesia and its side effects on postoperative rehabilitation during spine surgery

Abstract

Background. Spine surgeries belong to traumatic, complex, long-term interventions and can be carried out using various methods of anaesthesia. Each type of anaesthesia has its own side effects and complications, such as postoperative nausea and vomiting (PONV). Often it is related to the amount of narcotic analgesic used. PONV directly affects the patient’s overall satisfaction with anaesthesia. Spine operations require intensive pain management with narcotic analgesics. Regional anaesthesia allows reducing the amount of narcotic analgesics and control the pain syndrome. The purpose was to compare erector spinae plane (ESP) block as a component of combination with general anaesthesia in the context of the impact on the number of narcotic analgesics, PONV and general satisfaction with anaesthesia. Materials and methods. Spine surgery was performed in 83 patients. Depending on the method of analgesia, they were divided into 2 groups: group I — general anaesthesia, group II — general anaesthesia with ESP block. Primary outcomes: amount of intraoperative fentanyl and postoperative morphine. Secondary final clinical outcomes of the study: incidence of PONV, overall satisfaction with anaesthesia on a 5-point Likert scale. Results. The total amount of fentanyl was lower in group II (1.7 ± 0.7 μg/kg/h) compared to group I (4.7 ± 1.6 μg/kg/h), p < 0.05. Morphine was administered to 31 patients in group I and 6 patients in group II. The frequency of PONV episodes was lower in group II (29 cases) than in group I (11 cases). Overall satisfaction with anaesthesia was higher in group II (4.38 ± 0.80) in contrast to group I (2.97 ± 0.90), p < 0.05. Conclusions. ESP block as a component of general anaesthesia reduces the amount of narcotic analgesics intra- and postoperatively and, as a result, decreases the frequency of PONV and improves overall satisfaction with anaesthesia.