Comparison of the Effects of Bilateral Transversus Abdominis Plane Block and Bilateral Quadratus Lumborum Block on Postoperative Analgesia in Patients Undergoing Midline Laparotomy

April 30, 2025 updated by: Esma Asik, Ankara University

Midline incisions provide easy, rapid and excellent exposure of the abdominal cavity and are particularly used for complex, diagnostic or emergency procedures.

However, midline incisions transect the nerve fibers passing in the mediocaudal direction of the abdominal wall, which causes more postoperative pain than other incisions.

Postoperative pain and delayed return of bowel function are thought to be the main factors that prevent early recovery and discharge.

or surgical procedures where parietal pain is the main component of postoperative pain, TAPB can be used as a simple and effective analgesic technique with the added advantage of preserved motor and bladder function.

Quadratus lumborum block can be used as an analgesic technique in all surgeries such as proctosigmoidectomy, hip surgery, above-knee amputation, abdominal hernia repair, breast reconstruction, colostomy closure, radical nephrectomy, lower extremity vascular surgery, total hip arthroplasty, laparotomy and colectomy.

Our study aimed to compare the effects of bilateral oblique subcostal TAPB with bilateral QLB2 and QLB3 performed under ultrasound guidance in midline incision laparotomies on total opioid requirement in the first 24 hours postoperatively, early postoperative pain intensity, time to first rescue analgesic requirement, nausea, vomiting and pruritus.

To evaluate this hypothesis, we compared TAPB and QLB in a prospective, randomized, single-center clinical study. The primary endpoint of our study was the comparison of total morphine consumption in the first 24 hours postoperatively.

Study Overview

Status

Completed

Conditions

Intervention / Treatment

Study Type

Interventional

Enrollment (Actual)

120

Phase

  • Not Applicable

Contacts and Locations

This section provides the contact details for those conducting the study, and information on where this study is being conducted.

Study Locations

  • Turkey
      • Ankara, Turkey
        • Ankara University School of Medicine

Participation Criteria

Researchers look for people who fit a certain description, called eligibility criteria. Some examples of these criteria are a person's general health condition or prior treatments.

Eligibility Criteria

Ages Eligible for Study

  • Adult
  • Older Adult

Accepts Healthy Volunteers

No

Description

Inclusion Criteria:

  • Laparotomy with midline incision
  • General anesthesia will be applied
  • 18-70 years old
  • ASA 1-3
  • BMI of 18-30 kg/m2
  • Literate
  • Without cognitive impairment
  • Patients who approved the informed consent form

Exclusion Criteria:

  • Under 18 years old
  • Over 70 years old
  • ASA 4 and above
  • Cognitive impairment
  • İlliteracy
  • Vision and hearing problem
  • Infection at the injection site
  • Coagulopathy
  • Peripheral neuropathy
  • Local anesthetic allergy
  • Patients who do not want to be included in the study

Study Plan

This section provides details of the study plan, including how the study is designed and what the study is measuring.

How is the study designed?

Design Details

  • Primary Purpose: Treatment
  • Allocation: Randomized
  • Interventional Model: Parallel Assignment
  • Masking: None (Open Label)

Arms and Interventions

Participant Group / Arm
Intervention / Treatment
Active Comparator: Quadratus Lumborum Group (QLB)
Quadratus lumborum block; after the patient was lying in the lateral decubitus position and skin asepsis of the posterior abdominal wall was provided with 10% polyvinylpyrrolidone-iodine, the ultrasound probe was moved from the level of the iliac crest to the 4th lumbar vertebra and the quadratus lumborum muscle was visualized on the transverse process of the 4th lumbar vertebra at the point where the anterior abdominal wall muscles end. The needle was advanced in-plane between the quadratus lumborum muscle and the erector spinae-latissimus dorsi muscles (QLB2) located on the posterior-superior side of this muscle, and 0.15 ml/kg 0.25% bupivacaine was injected under the thoracolumbar fascia located between these two muscles. Then, the needle was advanced towards the quadratus lumborum and the psoas major (QLB3) muscle located on the anterior-inferior side, and 0.15 ml/kg 0.25% bupivacaine was injected between these two muscles.This procedure was applied to the patient bilaterally.
Procedure: Quadratus Lumborum Block (QLB)
Quadratus lumborum block; after the patient was lying in the lateral decubitus position and skin asepsis of the posterior abdominal wall was provided with 10% polyvinylpyrrolidone-iodine, the ultrasound probe was moved from the level of the iliac crest to the 4th lumbar vertebra and the quadratus lumborum muscle was visualized on the transverse process of the 4th lumbar vertebra at the point where the anterior abdominal wall muscles end. The needle was advanced in-plane between the quadratus lumborum muscle and the erector spinae-latissimus dorsi muscles (QLB2) located on the posterior-superior side of this muscle, and 0.15 ml/kg 0.25% bupivacaine was injected under the thoracolumbar fascia located between these two muscles. Then, the needle was advanced towards the quadratus lumborum and the psoas major (QLB3) muscle located on the anterior-inferior side, and 0.15 ml/kg 0.25% bupivacaine was injected between these two muscles.This procedure was applied to the patient bilaterally.
Drug: quadratus lumborum block using bupivacaine
The needle was advanced in-plane between the quadratus lumborum muscle and the erector spinae-latissimus dorsi muscles (QLB2) located on the posterior-superior side of this muscle, and 0.15 ml/kg 0.25% bupivacaine was injected under the thoracolumbar fascia located between these two muscles. Then, the needle was advanced towards the quadratus lumborum and the psoas major (QLB3) muscle located on the anterior-inferior side, and 0.15 ml/kg 0.25% bupivacaine was injected between these two muscles.This procedure was applied to the patient bilaterally.
Active Comparator: Transversus Abdominis Plane Group (TAPB)
Transversus abdominis plane block was performed with the patient lying in the supine position via an oblique subcostal approach from the anterior abdominal wall. After skin asepsis of the anterior abdominal wall was provided with 10% polyvinylpyrrolidone-iodine, the linear ultrasound probe was placed parallel to the subcostal border at the level of the xiphoid bone and the subcutaneous fat tissue, rectus abdominis muscle and transversus abdominis muscle were visualized, respectively. A 10 cm 20G needle (BRAUN Stimuplex Ultra 360, GERMANY) was advanced towards the transversus abdominis muscle fascia with the in-plane technique and 0.3 ml/kg 0.25% bupivacaine was injected into this area.This procedure was performed bilaterally.
Procedure: transversus abdominis plane block
Transversus abdominis plane block was performed with the patient lying in the supine position via an oblique subcostal approach from the anterior abdominal wall. After skin asepsis of the anterior abdominal wall was provided with 10% polyvinylpyrrolidone-iodine, the linear ultrasound probe was placed parallel to the subcostal border at the level of the xiphoid bone and the subcutaneous fat tissue, rectus abdominis muscle and transversus abdominis muscle were visualized, respectively. A 10 cm 20G needle (BRAUN Stimuplex Ultra 360, GERMANY) was advanced towards the transversus abdominis muscle fascia with the in-plane technique and 0.3 ml/kg 0.25% bupivacaine was injected into this area.This procedure was performed bilaterally.
Drug: transversus abdominis plane block using bupivacaine
A 10 cm 20G needle (BRAUN Stimuplex Ultra 360, GERMANY) was advanced towards the transversus abdominis muscle fascia with the in-plane technique and 0.3 ml/kg 0.25% bupivacaine was injected into this area.This procedure was performed bilaterally.

What is the study measuring?

Primary Outcome Measures

Outcome Measure
Measure Description
Time Frame
Our study aimed to compare the effects of bilateral oblique subcostal TAPB with bilateral QLB2 and QLB3 performed under ultrasound guidance in midline incision laparotomies on total opioid requirement in the first 24 hours postoperatively
Time Frame: Within 24 hours after surgery
All patients were extubated after the block was performed. All patients were given 1 mg bolus 10 min lock time IV morphine (Morphine Hydrochloride, OSEL Drug) connected to the PCA device (BodyGuard 575i Pain Manager, TARMED). If the morphine given with the PCA device was not sufficient as an analgesic, patients were given 1 gr IV paracetamol infusion (the dose was adjusted so that the paracetamol dose did not exceed a maximum of 4 grams per day). If the VAS was still >4 at 1 hour after paracetamol, the patient was administered 50 mg IV dexketoprofen (NSAID) (the dexketoprofen dose was adjusted to a maximum of 150 milligrams per day).he amount of opioids used and requested by the patients was recorded as the amount of PCA medication at the 15th minute, 2nd, 4th, 8th, 12th, 16th and 24th hours, as how much opioids they requested or used at the specified time intervals. For example, the amount of opioid used between the 15th minute and the 2nd hour was recorded at the 2nd hour.
Within 24 hours after surgery

Collaborators and Investigators

This is where you will find people and organizations involved with this study.

Sponsor

Ankara University

Publications and helpful links

The person responsible for entering information about the study voluntarily provides these publications. These may be about anything related to the study.

General Publications

Helpful Links

Study record dates

These dates track the progress of study record and summary results submissions to ClinicalTrials.gov. Study records and reported results are reviewed by the National Library of Medicine (NLM) to make sure they meet specific quality control standards before being posted on the public website.

Study Major Dates

Study Start (Actual)

March 1, 2022

Primary Completion (Actual)

February 1, 2023

Study Completion (Actual)

February 5, 2023

Study Registration Dates

First Submitted

April 20, 2025

First Submitted That Met QC Criteria

April 25, 2025

First Posted (Actual)

April 30, 2025

Study Record Updates

Last Update Posted (Actual)

May 4, 2025

Last Update Submitted That Met QC Criteria

April 30, 2025

Last Verified

April 1, 2025

More Information

Terms related to this study

Keywords

Additional Relevant MeSH Terms

Other Study ID Numbers

  • EAsik

Plan for Individual participant data (IPD)

Plan to Share Individual Participant Data (IPD)?

YES

IPD Sharing Supporting Information Type

  • STUDY_PROTOCOL
  • SAP
  • ICF
  • ANALYTIC_CODE
  • CSR

Drug and device information, study documents

Studies a U.S. FDA-regulated drug product

No

Studies a U.S. FDA-regulated device product

No

product manufactured in and exported from the U.S.

No

This information was retrieved directly from the website clinicaltrials.gov without any changes. If you have any requests to change, remove or update your study details, please contact register@clinicaltrials.gov. As soon as a change is implemented on clinicaltrials.gov, this will be updated automatically on our website as well.

Clinical Trials on Quadratus Lumborum Block

Clinical Trials on Quadratus Lumborum Block (QLB)

Search Similar Trials

Sponsors and Collaborators

Medical Conditions

Drug Interventions

CROs by country

CROs in Peru

Conditions

Rare Diseases

Drug Interventions

Dietary Supplements

Sponsor/Collaborators

Locations

Subscribe