• Sun Kyung Park, Yun Suk Choi, Sung Wook Choi, and Sung Wook Song.
• Department of Anesthesiology and Pain Medicine, Jeju National University Hospital, Jeju, Korea.
• Korean J Pain. 2015 Jan 1;28(1):45-51.

BackgroundArthroscopic shoulder operations (ASS) are often associated with severe postoperative pain. Nerve blocks have been studied for pain in shoulder surgeries. Interscalene brachial plexus blocks (ISB) and an intra-articular injection (IA) have been reported in many studies. The aim of the present study is to evaluate the effect of ISB, a continuous cervical epidural block (CCE) and IA as a means of postoperative pain control and to study the influence of these procedures on postoperative analgesic consumption and after ASS.MethodsFifty seven patients who underwent ASS under general anesthesia were randomly assigned to one of three groups: the ISB group (n = 19), the CCE group (n = 19), and the IA group (n = 19). Patients in each group were evaluated on a postoperative numerical rating scale (NRS), their rescue opioid dosage (ROD), and side effects.ResultsPostoperative NRSs were found to be higher in the IA group than in the ISB and CCE groups both at rest and on movement. The ROD were 1.6 ± 2.3, 3.0 ± 4.9 and 7.1 ± 7.9 mg morphine equivalent dose in groups CCE, ISB, and IA groups (P = 0.001), respectively, and statistically significant differences were noted between the CCE and IA groups (P = 0.01) but not in between the ISB and CCE groups.ConclusionsThis prospective, randomized study demonstrated that ISB is as effective analgesic technique as a CCE for postoperative pain control in patients undergoing ASS.

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