Efficacy of erector spinae plane block versus retrolaminar block for perioperative analgesia following posterior dorso-lumbar spine instrumentation surgery

Spine instrumentation surgeries involve extensive amount of tissue and bone trauma thus resulting in significant perioperative pain. Effective analgesia involves a multimodal approach combining systemic medications, regional nerve blocks, and patient controlled analgesia. Recently, regional analgesia techniques, such as the erector spinae plane block (ESPB), retrolaminar block (RLB) and thoracolumbar interfascial plane (TLIP) block, are being used. In this study, we will compare the efficacy of ultrasound guided ESPB and RLB in decreasing perioperative pain, the requirement of systemic analgesics and maintaining haemodynamic stability in dorsolumbar spine instrumentation surgeries. This will be a single blinded randomised controlled trial. After randomisation into two groups, we will administer either of ESPB or RLB with 19 ml 0f 0.25 % bupivacaine and 1 ml of dexamethasone bilaterally at a single targeted level approximately half an hour before surgery. We will record haemodynamics at various time points, and postoperative pain scores upto 24 hours. We will also document the requirement of systemic rescue analgesics postoperatively.