Single‑shot lamina technique of paravertebral block as an adjunct to general anesthesia for modified radical mastectomy

Abstract

Thoracic paravertebral block can be employed as an alternative or an adjunct to general anesthesia (GA) for breast cancer surgery. There is no report of this new lamina technique for catheter placement in our environment. In low‑resource settings, potent opioids are lacking and the extended postoperative analgesia it provides makes this regional block an invaluable addition to an anesthetist’s armamentarium. We describe this single‑shot, but titratable technique used as an adjunct to GA for modified radical mastectomy with axillary dissection for breast cancer. The total intraoperative opioid analgesic 50 mg pethidine was received at induction. The patient’s vital signs remained stable throughout surgery that lasted 115 min. Pain score charted every 10 min in the postanesthesia care unit using the verbal rating scale was 0. The time to the first request for rescue analgesic was 18 h after surgery for which paracetamol 1 g was adequate.

Key words: Adjunct, anesthesia, breast surgery, paravertebral