European journal of clinical pharmacology
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Eur. J. Clin. Pharmacol. · Apr 2012
Clinical TrialPharmacokinetics of the local anesthetic ropivacaine after transversus abdominis plane block in healthy volunteers.
The transversus abdominis plane (TAP) block is a regional anesthetic technique used for pain control following abdominal surgical procedures. While a minimum of systemic side effects is usually expected after local anesthesia, it is unknown to which extent systemic absorption and redistribution to the abdominal wall contributes to the effects of anesthetics. The aim of this study was to determine concentration-time profiles of ropivacaine after the injection of 150 mg of ropivacaine into the lateral abdominal wall in various compartments. ⋯ While the systemic pharmacokinetics was comparable between subjects, the local distribution of ropivacaine was highly variable after TAP block.