The Efficacy of High Thoracic Erector Spinae Plane Block

Dear Editor, We thank Harsha Shanthanna for his interest in our article, which evaluates the efficacy of erector spinae plane blocks (ESPBs) for arthroscopic shoulder surgery [1]. To the best of our knowledge, our study is the first in the literature to examine the efficacy of ESPBs after arthroscopic shoulder surgery [2]. Our study is a single-centered, randomized, prospective, double-blind study of two groups. We compared T2-level ESPBs to T2 sham blocks. In an article by Czuczman et al. [3], in which Harsha Shanthanna was also involved, the authors describe an ongoing ESPB trial. However, the authors compared ESPBs to periarticular anesthetic infiltration, making that study different from our own, which compares ESPBs to sham blocks. We suggest, therefore, that adding our own study to the existing one will significantly increase the evidence in support of the application of ESPBs. Since their first description...