Medicina (Dec 2023)

Effect of Interpectoral-Pectoserratus Plane (PECS II) Block on Recovery Room Discharge Time in Breast Cancer Surgery

  • Laima Malachauskiené,
  • Rajesh Prabhakar Bhavsar,
  • Jacob Waldemar,
  • Thomas Strøm

DOI
https://doi.org/10.3390/medicina60010041
Journal volume & issue
Vol. 60, no. 1
p. 41

Abstract

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Background and Objectives: The increase in the incidence and diagnosis rate of breast cancer demands the optimization of resources. The aim of this study was to assess whether the supplementation of the interpectoral-pectoserratus plane block (PECS II) reduces surgery and post-anesthesia care unit (PACU) time in patients undergoing breast cancer surgery. Materials and methods: This was a retrospective data-analysis study. In 2016, PECS II block was introduced as a supplement to general anesthesia for all mastectomies with or without axillary resections in South Jutland regional hospital, Denmark. The perioperative data of patients operated 3 years before and 3 years after 2016 was retrieved through the Danish anesthesia database and patient journals and systematically analyzed. Female patients aged over 18 years, with no use of muscle relaxant, intubation, and inhalation agents, were included. The eligible data was organized into two groups, i.e., Block and Control, where the Block group received PECS II Block, while the Control group received only general anesthesia. Parameters such as surgery time, anesthesia time, PACU time, opioid consumption, and the incidence of postoperative nausea and vomiting (PONV) in PACU were retrieved and statistically analyzed. Results: A total of 172 patients out of 358 patients met eligibility criteria. After applying exclusion criteria, 65 patients were filtered out. A total of 107 patients, 51 from the Block and 56 from the Control group, were eligible for the final analysis. The patients were comparable in demographic parameters. The median surgery time was significantly less in the Block group (78 min (60–99)) in comparison to the Control group (98.5 min (77.5–139.5) p p p p Conclusions: The interpectoral-pectoserratus plane (PECS II) block supplementation reduces surgery time, anesthesia time, and opioid consumption but not PACU time during breast cancer surgery.

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