Efficacy and safety of Extrapleural block in patients with coronary artery disease after thoracoscopic surgery

OBJECTIVE: This study aimed to investigate the efficacy and safety of extrapleural block (EPB) application in patients with coronary artery disease after thoracoscopic surgery. METHODS: Patients with typical symptoms of angina and myocardial ischemia who underwent thoracoscopic surgery at our institution between December 2018 and December 2020 were screened for eligibility and they received paravertebral blocking (PVB), EPB, and patient‐controlled intravenous analgesia (PCIA). Visual analog scale (VAS) scores were used to assess the analgesic effect and safety outcomes included heart rate, incidence of postoperative rescue analgesics, cardiac complications, and adverse reactions such as nausea and vomiting. RESULTS: In total, 76 patients (age: 66.5 [61.3, 71] years; male: 63.2%) were eligible, including the PVB group (n = 22), EPB group (n = 25), and PVIA group (n = 29) with comparable baseline characteristics. There was a significantly higher proportion of patients with a VAS score of 1 in the EPB group compared with the other groups at 4 h (88.0% vs. 10.3% for PCIA and 45.5% for PVB; p < .001) and 6 h after the surgery (32.0% vs. 3.4% for PCIA and 13.6% for PVB; p = .012). The preoperative heart rate in the EPB group (81 [71, 94] beats/min) was slightly higher than those in the PVB (76 [70, 85] beats/min) and PCIA groups (76 [69, 84 beats/min]) but without significant difference (p = .193). There was no significant difference in the incidence of rescue analgesia, adverse events, and cardiac complications among the three groups (p = .296, .808, and .669, respectively.) CONCLUSION: Compared with PVB and PCIA, the EPB could more effectively relieve acute pain after thoracoscopic surgery in patients with coronary artery disease and offer comparable safety benefits in the management of postoperative heart rate, adverse events, and cardiac complications.