Peer-reviewed veterinary case report
Pain relief after spay surgery in cats using ultrasound nerve block
By Garbin, Marta et al.·Published in Journal of feline medicine and surgery·2023·Department of Clinical Sciences, Canada·View original on PubMed →
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Original publication title: Analgesic efficacy of an ultrasound-guided transversus abdominis plane block with bupivacaine in cats: a randomised, prospective, masked, placebo-controlled clinical trial.
- Species:
- cat
Plain-English summary
A group of healthy female cats undergoing spay surgery (ovariohysterectomy) received either a special pain relief technique called a transversus abdominis plane block (TAPB) with bupivacaine or a placebo. The cats that received the TAPB experienced significantly less pain after surgery compared to those who only got the standard pain medication, buprenorphine. Most of the cats in the placebo group needed extra pain relief, while only a few in the TAPB group did. This suggests that using TAPB with bupivacaine can help manage pain more effectively in cats after spay surgery.
People also search for: cat spay surgery pain relief · feline pain management after surgery · bupivacaine for cats
Abstract
OBJECTIVES: This randomised, prospective, masked clinical trial evaluated the postoperative analgesic efficacy of an ultrasound-guided transversus abdominis plane block (TAPB) with bupivacaine in cats undergoing ovariohysterectomy. METHODS: Thirty-two healthy adult female cats undergoing elective ovariohysterectomy were randomised to undergo TAPB with bupivacaine (treatment group [TG], n = 16) vs placebo (control group [CG], n = 16) in addition to preoperative analgesia with buprenorphine (0.02 mg/kg IM). All patients received a general anaesthetic and, before surgical incision, a bilateral two-point (subcostal and lateral-longitudinal) TAPB was performed using 1 ml/kg bupivacaine 0.25% (0.25 ml/kg/point) or saline. Each cat was assessed by a blinded investigator before premedication (0 h) and at 1, 2, 3, 4, 8, 10 and 24 h postoperatively using the UNESP-Botucatu Feline Pain Scale - short form. Buprenorphine (0.02 mg/kg IV) and meloxicam (0.2 mg/kg SC) were administered when pain scores were ⩾4/12. Ten hours postoperatively, meloxicam was administered to cats that did not receive rescue analgesia. Statistical analysis included Student's-tests, Wilcoxon tests and χtests, and a linear mixed model with Bonferroni corrections (<0.05). RESULTS: Of the 32 cats enrolled, three in the CG were excluded from the analysis. The prevalence of rescue analgesia was significantly higher in the CG (n = 13/13) than in the TG (n = 3/16;<0.001). Only one cat in the CG required rescue analgesia twice. Pain scores were significantly higher in the CG compared with the TG at 2, 4 and 8 h postoperatively. Mean ± SD pain scores were significantly higher in the CG, but not in the TG, at 2 (2.1 ± 1.9), 3 (1.9 ± 1.6), 4 (3.0 ± 1.4) and 8 h postoperatively (4.7 ± 0.6) than at 0 h (0.1 ± 0.3). CONCLUSIONS AND RELEVANCE: A bilateral ultrasound-guided two-point TAPB with bupivacaine in combination with systemic buprenorphine provided superior postoperative analgesia than buprenorphine alone in cats undergoing ovariohysterectomy.
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Search related cases →Original publication on PubMed: https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/36848291/