Seminars in thoracic and cardiovascular surgery
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Semin. Thorac. Cardiovasc. Surg. · Jan 2017
Comparative StudyIntercostal Nerve Blocks With Liposomal Bupivacaine: Demonstration of Safety, and Potential Benefits.
Liposomal bupivacaine is designed to allow drug diffusion for up to 96 hours following a single administration. Our study aimed to evaluate the safety of liposomal bupivacaine as an intercostal nerve block as part of an enhanced recovery pathway using standardized multimodality pain regimen compared with epidural analgesia in propensity score-matched patients undergoing lung resection. Patients undergoing lung resection (n?=?1737; 2010-2015) were stratified by treatment with intraoperative liposomal bupivacaine intercostal block vs epidural analgesia. ⋯ In the second analysis (n?=?494), there were no differences in the rate of postoperative complications between the groups. The use of liposomal bupivacaine is not associated with a rise in perioperative complications when compared with epidural analgesia. Liposomal bupivacaine is a safe adjunct to the management of pain of patients undergoing pulmonary surgery.