Major Laparoscopic Intraperitoneal Surgery Performed With Combined Bilateral Subcostal Transversus Abdominal Plane Block and Celiac Plexus Block, Intravenous Sedation Without Tracheal Intubation: A Feasibility Study of 3 Cases

Objectives Major abdominal surgery usually requires general anesthesia with tracheal intubation and may be supplemented with neuraxial anesthesia to provide intraoperative and postoperative pain relief. Attempts at using only neuraxial anesthesia for major abdominal surgery have often been shown to be poorly effective. This report demonstrates that laparoscopic colonic surgical procedures can be performed with ultrasound-guided blocks (bilateral transversus abdominal plane block and celiac plexus block) and intravenous sedation, while avoiding general or neuraxial anesthesia. Case Report We report our preliminary experience in 3 patients (all American Society of Anesthesiologists physical status III) who underwent laparoscopic colonic surgery without general anesthesia. Intraoperative visceral analgesia was provided by single-injection ultrasound anterior celiac plexus block to which was added a bilateral subcostal transversus abdominal plane block to obtain parietal analgesia. Light intravenous sedation was added. Surgical exposure was satisfactory, and no patient complained of any symptom during the procedure. No adverse effect was recorded. Postoperative pain was minimal, and recovery was enhanced with mobilization and walking within hours after surgery. Patient satisfaction was excellent. Conclusions To date, celiac plexus block has been used almost exclusively to relieve pancreatic cancer pain. This is the first report in which it is shown that major intra-abdominal surgery can be performed almost exclusively with regional anesthesia while avoiding adverse effects and problems associated with either general or neuraxial anesthesia. In addition, prolonged postoperative pain relief facilitated early recovery. Accepted for publication January 15, 2018. Address correspondence to: Dan Benhamou, MD, Département d'Anesthésie Réanimation, Hôpital Bicêtre Université Paris-Sud, 78 Rue du Général Leclerc, 94275 Le Kremlin-Bicêtre Cedex, France (e-mail: dan.benhamou@aphp.fr). The work should be attributed to Private Hospital Eure et Loir, Mainvilliers, France. The work was managed with hospital funds only. The authors declare no conflict of interest. Authors Contributions: A.T. provided anesthesia to the patients, collected data, and wrote the first draft. M.B. performed the surgical procedure and participated in writing the manuscript. P.J.Z. participated in writing the manuscript. D.B. participated in writing the manuscript and coordinated manuscript preparation and submission. Copyright © 2018 by American Society of Regional Anesthesia and Pain Medicine.

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