We are excited to share the publication of our physician’s research study titled “POSSEBLiTY: Continuous Serratus (CSAPB) Anterior Versus Erector Spinae Plane Block (CESPB) Catheters for Postoperative Pain Management Following Video-Assisted Thoracoscopic Surgery (VATS): A Retrospective Study.” on September 13, 2024 at Cureus, Journal of Medical Science. The authors of this study include Carla Maffeo-Mitchell, Katherine Davis, Sarah Vincze, Ya-Huei Li, Ilene Staff, Aseel Walker, Edmund Takata, and Kevin Finkel.
This study is a single-site, retrospective study compared several analgesic and recovery outcomes in patients who underwent VATS and received postoperative CESPB from November 2019 to October 2020 (CESPB group) to those who received postoperative CSAPB from September 2018 to October 2019 (CSAPB group). Patients receiving either of these blocks were then collated to form a single group (block) and compared to patients who did not receive any regional anesthesia from October 2017 to October 2018 (no block). Primary outcomes included opioid consumption during hospital admission and pain scores in the first 72 postoperative hours. Secondary postoperative outcomes included post-anesthesia care unit (PACU) length of stay, time from procedure end to discharge, time to first opioid medication, ambulation distance on day one, medication use, and incidence of surgical or block-related complications. The findings of this study, both blocks demonstrated clinical benefits; however, overall, the ESPB demonstrated analgesic superiority over the SAPB. These findings support the preferred and continued use of the ESPB for VATS postoperative management in line with current clinical practice guidelines.
A poster of the study was presented at the 77th PostGraduate Assembly in Anesthesiology by Katherine Davis, one of interns from Hartford Hospital Summer Research Program.
Congratulations to Dr. Maffeo-Mitchell for her leadership as the principal investigator and to all co-authors for their invaluable contributions.
To read more on the study please visit the link below:
POSSEBLiTY Final Publication – POSSEBLiTY
