• Sally Mahmoud, Emily Miraflor, David Martin, Daniel Mantuani, Josh Luftig, and Arun D Nagdev.
• Department of Emergency Medicine/Alameda County Medical Center, Highland General Hospital, Oakland, CA 94602-1018, USA. Electronic address: smahmoud@alamedahealthsystem.org.
• Am J Emerg Med. 2019 Apr 1; 37 (4): 740-743.

AbstractThe ultrasound-guided transversus abdominis plane (TAP) block or TAP block is a well-established regional anesthetic block used by anesthesiologists for peri-operative pain control of the anterior abdominal wall. Multiple studies have demonstrated its utility to control pain for a range of procedures from inguinal hernia repair, laparoscopic cholecystectomies to cesarean sections [1-3]. There are no cases describing the efficacy of the ultrasound-guided TAP block in the emergency department as a part of a multimodal pain pathway for patients diagnosed with acute appendicitis. We developed a pain protocol in conjunction with our surgical colleagues that incorporates the TAP block to reduce opioid use, and better treat acute pain in patients with acute appendicitis diagnosed in the emergency department. We successfully performed ultrasound-guided TAP blocks in 3 patients with computed tomography confirmed appendicitis, reducing pain and need for further opioid use. This interdepartmental collaborative pathway could be an ideal anesthetic plan for patients diagnosed in the emergency department with acute appendicitis.Copyright © 2019 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

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