The Effect of Bilateral Erector Spina Plan Block Performed After Lumbar Spinal Stabilization Surgery on Postoperative Patient Recovery and Pain

Patients undergoing lumbar spinal stabilization surgery may experience severe postoperative pain lasting at least three days. Analgesia after lumbar stabilization surgery is beneficial for early recovery and is therefore necessary. However, traditional opioid-based analgesic techniques are associated with many undesirable effects, including nausea, vomiting, itching, and sedation. Inadequate postoperative pain control also has numerous adverse effects on physiological systems such as the cardiovascular, pulmonary, gastrointestinal, immunological, renal, and hematological systems. Furthermore, inadequate postoperative pain control increases hospital stay, mortality and morbidity, prolongs patient ambulation time, increases patient costs, reduces patient satisfaction, and can lead to chronic postoperative pain. Nonsteroidal anti-inflammatory drugs (NSAIDs), opioid analgesics, and local anesthetics are frequently preferred options for providing postoperative analgesia. In cases where these agents are insufficient to prevent pain, regional techniques are often preferred to reduce the need for opioids. Erector spina plane block (ESPB), a component of multimodal analgesia and one of the regional techniques, was first used by Forero et al. for analgesic purposes in thoracic neuropathic pain and subsequently gained popularity. While ESPB is frequently performed at the thoracic level, its use continues to increase today.