Analgesic Effect of Ultrasound-Guided Transversus Abdominis Plan (TAP) Block in Femoral Endovascular Cardiac Interventions: A Prospective-randomized Study

Cardiac catheterization was first performed by Werner Frossman in the late 1920s, when the ureteral catheter was advanced in the antecubital vein and demonstrated by fluoroscopy in the right atrium. Over the years, this method was developed; It has been used for more specific and complicated clinical situations.

Coronary angiography was first used for diagnostic purposes in the 1950s. It has continued to exist as a gold standard method in the diagnosis and treatment of coronary artery diseases and some other cardiac pathologies until today.

For endovascular cardiac interventions; femoral, brachial and radial arteries are used. Blood loss and difficulty in achieving hemostasis are harder in femoral artery interventions than other arteries. However, it has been observed that the femoral artery is more frequently preferred in endovascular cardiac interventions. The reason is that the artery has a large lumen (approximately 8-9 mm) and continues after the abdominal aorta and iliac artery. One of the most important reasons for this is that there is very little anatomical variation. The femoral artery can be felt approximately 1/3 medial to the inguinal ligament.After the inguinal ligament, the iliac artery, commonly it is called the femoral artery. Femoral artery is mostly preferred in cardiac interventions. Because this region has common iliac artery it is thought to be safer because it comes before the bifurcation of the femoral artery and after the inferior epigastric artery.

Transversus abdominis plane block (TAPB) aims to block the ilioinguinal and iliohypogastric nerves. In gynecological, urological surgeries, colorectal surgeries, cholecystectomies and inguinal surgeries; it has been used to provide intraoperative and postoperative analgesia.

The transversus abdominis plane is between the internal oblique muscle and the transversus abdominis muscle. In this plane, ilioinguinal and iliohypogastric nerves are located together. Ilioinguinal and iliohypogastric nerves originate from the ventral branches of L1 and in some variations, T12 may also contribute. The sensory innervation of the femoral region where endovascular cardiac interventions are performed is complex. It is thought that the ilioinguinal and iliohypogastric nerves contribute mostly. TAPB aims to provide analgesia by creating a block in these nerve branches that contribute to the sensory innervation of the intervention area.