The effect of transversus abdominis plane block application on postoperative analgesia quality and patient satisfaction after varicocele surgery: a randomized clinical trial

Abstract

Abstract Background Postoperative pain management is an important aspect of anesthesia care and multimodal analgesic techniques are generally recommended. Objective To compare the effect of spinal anesthesia + transversus abdominis plane (TAP) block application on postoperative analgesia quality and patient satisfaction with spinal anesthesia + intrathecal morphine (ITM) application. Methods A total of 70 patients were randomly separated into 2 groups as spinal anesthesia + TAP block (TAP block group, n = 34) and spinal anesthesia + ITM group (ITM group, n = 36). The groups were compared in respect of age, body mass index values, and visual analog scale (VAS) values at 0 h, 2 h, 6 h, 12 h, and 18 h, and patient satisfaction was scored by Quality Improvement in Postoperative Pain Management at 24 h. Results The mean age of the patients was 32.52 ± 6.50 years in the TAP block group and 30.11 ± 5.62 years in the ITM group, with no statistically significant difference determined. There was no statistically significant difference in terms of VAS values at 0 h, 2 h, 6 h, 12 h, and 18 h. When the factors affecting postoperative patient satisfaction were evaluated, feeling fatigue after the surgery (r = −0.811, P = 0.001) and postoperative complications such as nausea, vomiting, and itching (r = −0.831, P = 0.001) were found to have a negative effect on patient satisfaction. Conclusion Due to low complication rates, TAP block is an effective application for postoperative analgesia management in varicocele operations that increases patient satisfaction postoperatively.