Key result
TAP blocks may marginally outperform caudal blocks in pediatric abdominal surgery by extending analgesia.
Why the study?
Treating perioperative pain in paediatric patients can be challenging because young children may be unable to adequately communicate pain type and severity.
Regional anaesthesia is highlighted as a safe and useful component of multimodal perioperative analgesia in paediatric patients who may have difficulty communicating pain.
May support TAP consideration in select paediatric cases; leaves open need for RCTs to confirm benefit over caudal blocks.
Adequate analgesia is a core component of perioperative care and postoperative recovery. The treatment of perioperative pain in paediatric patients can be challenging, especially as young children may be unable to adequately communicate the type and severity of the pain that they are experiencing. The use of regional anaesthesia as part of the multimodal approach to perioperative analgesia in paediatric patients may obviate some of these difficulties, and its safety is well established.1-3
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Alexandra Torborg (2021) conducted an editorial in Postoperative pain in paediatric lower abdominal surgery. Transversus abdominis plane (TAP) block vs. Caudal block was evaluated. Transversus abdominis plane (TAP) blocks may be marginally preferable to caudal blocks for paediatric lower abdominal surgery due to a longer duration of analgesia and less need for rescue analgesia.
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