Abstract
We hypothesised that relaxation of the serratus anterior muscle by long thoracic nerve (LTN) block could help pain relief after video-assisted thoracoscopic surgery. Patients undergoing thoracoscopic wedge resection for pneumothorax were randomly assigned to control or LTN block. LTN block was performed before induction of general anaesthesia. Pain was evaluated using a visual analogue scale before anaesthesia induction (T0), on arrival to the post-anaesthetic care unit (PACU) (T1), every ten minutes after arrival in the PACU for 30 minutes (T2, T3 and T4) and one hour and 24 hours after discharge from the PACU (T5 and T6). Visual analogue scale scores from T1 to T5 in the block group were lower than the control group (T1: 36±11 vs 48±14 [P=0.001], T2: 36±11 vs 51±15 [P P P P P P P=0.197). These findings indicate that LTN block reduced pain after video-assisted thoracoscopic surgery from end-of-surgery to one hour after discharge from the PACU.