The effect of transversus abdominis plane block application on postoperative analgesia quality and patient satisfaction after varicocele surgery: a randomized clinical trial

BACKGROUND: Postoperative pain management is an important aspect of anesthesia care and multimodal analgesic techniques are generally recommended. OBJECTIVE: To compare the effect of spinal anesthesia + transversus abdominis plane (TAP) block application on postoperative analgesia quality and patient satisfaction with spinal anesthesia + intrathecal morphine (ITM) application. METHODS: A total of 70 patients were randomly separated into 2 groups as spinal anesthesia + TAP block (TAP block group, n = 34) and spinal anesthesia + ITM group (ITM group, n = 36). The groups were compared in respect of age, body mass index values, and visual analog scale (VAS) values at 0 h, 2 h, 6 h, 12 h, and 18 h, and patient satisfaction was scored by Quality Improvement in Postoperative Pain Management at 24 h. RESULTS: The mean age of the patients was 32.52 ± 6.50 years in the TAP block group and 30.11 ± 5.62 years in the ITM group, with no statistically significant difference determined. There was no statistically significant difference in terms of VAS values at 0 h, 2 h, 6 h, 12 h, and 18 h. When the factors affecting postoperative patient satisfaction were evaluated, feeling fatigue after the surgery (r = −0.811, P = 0.001) and postoperative complications such as nausea, vomiting, and itching (r = −0.831, P = 0.001) were found to have a negative effect on patient satisfaction. CONCLUSION: Due to low complication rates, TAP block is an effective application for postoperative analgesia management in varicocele operations that increases patient satisfaction postoperatively.