Intraoperative ultrasound-guided serratus anterior plane catheter for postoperative analgesia after breast surgery in a morbidly obese patient

Abstract

Inter-fascial plane blocks play a great role as part of the multimodal analgesic regimen for breast surgery. Fascial plane blocks are effective for immediate analgesia, but their use for prolonged postoperative analgesia is not yet explored. We present a hybrid technique of successful placement of intraoperative ultrasound-guided deep serratus anterior plane (SAP) catheter for continuous postoperative analgesia in a morbidly obese patient undergoing breast surgery. A sexagenarian morbidly obese female patient with left carcinoma breast was posted for modified radical mastectomy. The deep serratus anterior fascial plane was more than 9 cms deep and was poorly visualized. Hence, intraoperative catheter was placed under ultrasound guidance and used effectively for 5 days. The static and dynamic pain scores were <4 at all-time points with local anesthetics and nonopioid systemic analgesics. We observed that intraoperative ultrasound-guided SAP catheter can be effectively used for continuous postoperative analgesia in morbidly obese patients undergoing breast surgery.

Keywords

• analgesia
• breast cancer
• modified radical mastectomy
• obesity
• opioid
• postoperative pain