Analgesic effects of bilateral superficial cervical plexus block in Thyroid Operation 

Background and goal of study: 
Bilateral superficial cervical plexus block (BSCPB) is a simple non-invasive technique that can be used as analgesic measure in the perioperative period of thyroidectomy. The purpose of this study is to assess the analgesic effects of this technique during the intraoperative and postoperative periods of thyroid operations and to determine whether it reduces the adverse effects of general anesthesia. 

Material and Methods:
A retrospective study was conducted between january-october 2016 in a single-center. 42 patients with indication of elective thyroid operations,  ASA 1 or 2 were studied: 15 received a BSCPB with 5 milliliters of 1% Ropivacaine per side after induction of general anesthesia; and 27 patients receive only systemic analgesia (SA). All were submitted a Fentanyl, Propofol, Rocuronio and Desflurane anesthesia.
The following variables were analyzed: Amount of opioid consumed during surgery, Postoperative pain (the time to the first analgesics required and amount of opioid consumed in the recovery room), recovery room stay, Postoperative nausea and vomiting in the recovery room were also assessed.
We used SPSS (PSAW Statistics 18) for statistical analysis, non-parametric tests were performed and a value  p <0.05 as defined as a statistically significant result.

Results and Discussion:
There were no significant differences in patient characteristics. 
It was found that the BSCPB group consumed fewer opioids during surgery (p <0.001) (average consumption of fentanyl in milligrams (mg): BSCPB 0.11 vs SA 0.28).
We observed a longer duration of analgesia in BSCPB group (p=0.003) (average of time in minutes (min) BSCPB 38.3 vs SA 8.9) and a smaller amount of morphine consumed in recovery room (p=0.018) (average consumption in mg: BSCPB 0.4 vs SA 2.1). The recovery room stay was fewer in BSCPB group (p = 0.021) (average of time in min: BSCPB 50.0 vs SA 58.9)
It should be noted that there were no complications in both groups.
No statistically significant differences in the remaining variables.

Conclusions:
BSCPB reduces analgesic use in intra and postoperative periods of thyroid operations. It also significantly shortens the recovery room stay.

Analgesic effects of bilateral superficial cervical plexus block in thyroid operation