Ultrasound-guided Peripheral Nerve Block for Non-intubated Uniportal Video-assisted Thoracoscopic Surgery

Traditionally, video-assisted thoracic surgery is performed under general anesthesia with double-lumen endotracheal tube. However, the complications associated with this large tube as well as inhalation anesthetics are frequently reported. Therefore, currently there is a trend toward non-intubated anesthesia methods for video-assisted thoracic surgery, which includes thoracic epidural block, peripheral nerve block, local anesthesia, local combined with peripheral nerve block, etc. Thoracic epidural block demands a high technique, but still risks catastrophic neurological complications in case of accidental dural puncture. Local anesthesia, perhaps more straightforward, however may need supplemental analgesia during incision, which will inevitably interrupt surgery and negatively affect the patients. This study aims to apply ultrasound guidance during local anesthetic injection for local anesthesia-based video assisted thoracic surgery, which helps inject the local anesthetic into the key intercostal nerve plane to provide more specific and precise blockade, thus avoiding the chance of blind injection. At the same time, ultrasound guidance has the potential to reduce the risk of systemic toxicity, prolong the duration of analgesia postoperatively, and facilitates postoperative recovery.