Erector Spinae Plane Block in Patients Undergoing Minimally Invasive Lumbar Spine Surgery: A Randomized Controlled Trial

Minimally invasive (MIS) spinal surgical procedures such as MIS transforaminal lumbar interbody fusion (TLIF) are being increasingly performed due to reduced morbidity. However, the mainstay for perioperative analgesia after these surgeries remains to be opioid pain medications, which have a number of associated adverse effects such as respiratory depression, hyperalgesia, and opioid habituation. Recently, the erector spinae plane (ESP) block has been introduced as an opioid-sparing regional anesthetic for lumbar spinal surgery with touted benefits including opioid use reduction and improved pain control. The proposed study aims to enroll patients in a double blind randomized controlled trial to undergo MIS TLIF with an ESP block or as conventional control group. Preoperative patient demographics, comorbidities, history of opioid use, and operative details will be obtained. Comprehensive assessment of opioid utilization, postoperative pain, non-opioid pain medication use, opioid-induced complications, time to opioid cessation, time to physical therapy clearance, length of stay, as well as other related outcomes will be performed.