Paravertebral Nerve Block for Donor Site Pain in Stage I Microtia Reconstruction: A Pilot Study.
Acute Interventional Perioperative Pain Service consultants have routinely placed paravertebral nerve block (PVB) catheters for the continuous release of ropivacaine following stage I microtia reconstruction with costal cartilage graft at our institution since 2010. A retrospective chart review from July 2006 was performed to compare the length of hospital stay, median pain score (0-10 scale), and opioid use of patients receiving PVB with those of historical controls. Statistical analysis included t, Mann-Whitney U, and Fisher's exact tests. A total of 15 stage I microtia surgeries were included, 10 with PVB and 5 without. Patients with and without PVB had high peak pain scores (8.4 vs 7.8), remained in the hospital for 3.5 and 3.8 days, and consumed 0.69 and 0.36 mg/kg morphine equivalents, respectively. These findings highlight the feasibility of PVB, but larger studies are needed to optimize pain relief in this population.
['Shaffer|Amber D|AD|', 'Jabbour|Noel|N|', 'Visoiu|Mihaela|M|', 'Yang|Charles I|CI|', 'Yellon|Robert F|RF|']
D000293:Adolescent D000577:Amides D000775:Anesthesia, Spinal D000779:Anesthetics, Local D002356:Cartilage D002648:Child D002675:Child, Preschool D065817:Congenital Microtia D005260:Female D006801:Humans D007902:Length of Stay D008297:Male D009407:Nerve Block D059408:Pain Management D010147:Pain Measurement D010865:Pilot Projects D019651:Reconstructive Surgical Procedures D012189:Retrospective Studies D000077212:Ropivacaine
microtia costochondral graft paravertebral block rib cartilage graft surgical pain ultrasound