Intraoperative Superior Hypogastric Plexus Block For Pain Relief During Cesarean-Section: A Prospective Case-Control Study

Superior hypogastric plexus block(SHPB) for pain relief is routinely implemented in cesarean section operations at H.S.U Kocaeli Derince Education and Research Hospital. The implementation of this procedure depends on the clinical situation of the patient, the preference of the surgeon and the anesthesiologist, the course of the operation, and whether the patient wishes or not. Superior hypogastric plexus block is performed with 0.25 % bupivacaine 30 ml injected under peritoneum above promontorium.

This is a prospective case-control study. The sample consisted of 60 women having cesarean-section with general anesthesia at H.S.U Kocaeli Derince Education and Research Hospital divided into two groups: the first group having superior hypogastric plexus block for pain relief and the control group not having superior hypogastric plexus block. All participants signed an informed consent and the study was approved by the Ethics Committee of Kocaeli University ( KUGOKAEK 2017/270). The sample size was calculated with G Power 3.1 program. With ki-square Goodness-of-fit test α:0.05 ,power 95% ,effect size 0.5 total sample size was calculated 52, including 26 in case group and 26 in control group. Women having cesarean-section with spinal anesthesia, women with known bupivacaine allergy, women with anxiety-depression disorder, women with known fibromyalgia were not enrolled to the study. Age, BMI(body mass index), education status, VAS (visual analog scale) scores ,the amount of analgesic used and the hour of gas extraction and bowel movement will be recorded.