• Yi Ren, Jingchun Gao, Xiaolu Nie, Lei Hua, Tiehua Zheng, Dong Guo, and Jianmin Zhang.
• Department of Anaesthesiology, Beijing Children's Hospital, Capital Medical University, National Center for Children's Health, No. 56, South Lishi Road, Beijing, 100045, China.
• Eur Spine J. 2024 Oct 1; 33 (10): 382338323823-3832.

PurposeMajor spinal surgery causes severe pain. We examined the ability of erector spinae plane block (ESPB) to alleviate pain after posterior spinal fusion (PSF) in paediatric scoliosis patients.MethodsSeventy-two patients who underwent PSF were randomized into a preoperative ultrasound-guided ESPB group or a no-block control group. The composite primary outcome was the area under the curve (AUC) of the numerical rating scale (NRS) score in the first 24 h after surgery and the number of parent-controlled intravenous analgesia (PCIA) boluses administered 24 h after surgery. The secondary outcomes included the NRS score, opioid consumption, rescue analgesia, adverse events, and quality of recovery.ResultsThe AUC-NRS at rest was 62 (13) in the ESPB group and 89 (13) in the control group (P < 0.001). There were 15 (5) 24-h PCIA boluses administered in the ESPB group and 30 (7) in the control group (P < 0.001). Compared with those in the control group, the NRS scores at rest were lower in the ESPB group at 0, 3, 6, and 9 h postoperatively, and the NRS scores during movement were lower in the ESPB group at 0, 3, 6, 9 and 12 h postoperatively. The ESPB group showed a lower need for PCIA than did the control group at 0-6, 6-12, 12-18 and 1-24 h postoperatively. In the ESPB group, fewer patients required rescue analgesics, and patients exhibited a higher quality of recovery.ConclusionPreoperative ESPB improves postoperative analgesia in paediatric scoliosis patients who underwent PSF.Trial Registration NumberChiCTR2300074505.Date Of RegistrationAugust 8, 2023.© 2024. The Author(s), under exclusive licence to Springer-Verlag GmbH Germany, part of Springer Nature.

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