The Effects of Intrathecal Morphine and Ultrasound-Guided Bilateral Transversalis Fascia Plane Block on Postoperative Acute Pain and Patient Satisfaction in Patients Undergoing Elective Cesarean Section

It is known that cesarean deliveries are increasingly performed worldwide today. Cesarean operations can cause severe postoperative pain; inadequate control of this pain can lead to negative outcomes such as increased opioid requirements, delayed recovery, chronic pain syndrome, and postpartum depression . Furthermore, inadequate pain control may limit the mother's ability to care for her newborn, negatively affecting mother-newborn interaction, reducing breastfeeding success, and weakening the mother-baby bond.

The ideal analgesic approach should include agents that do not affect the mother's functions and have minimal transfer into breast milk. In this regard, current guidelines recommend multimodal analgesia protocols that include the use of neuraxial local anesthetics and opioids, nonsteroidal anti-inflammatory drugs (NSAIDs), and paracetamol . Although morphine administered via the neuraxial route can provide effective analgesia for the first 12-24 hours postoperatively, its use may be limited due to undesirable side effects such as delayed respiratory depression, nausea, vomiting, and pruritus . For these reasons, alternative methods aimed at reducing opioid use have come to the fore in recent years. Fascial plane blocks performed under ultrasound guidance are recommended as a complementary part of multimodal analgesia in situations where neuroaxial opioids are not used or where analgesia control is inadequate. First described by Hebbard in 2009, the Transverse Fascial Plane Block (TFPB) provides analgesia by targeting the proximal branches of the T12 and L1 nerves between the transversus abdominis muscle and the transverse fascia. TFPB is used to relieve postoperative pain, particularly after lower abdominal surgeries, cesarean sections, and appendectomies.