Conditions: Postoperative Pain
Keywords: transversus abdominis plane block
Allocation: RANDOMIZED | Intervention model: PARALLEL
Enrollment: 70
Healthy volunteers: no

Brief summary:
The purpose of this study is to determine whether continuous transversus abdominis plane (TAP) block is superior to single shot TAP for postoperative pain after laparoscopic donor nephrectomy

Detailed description:
This study is a randomized, prospective, double blind study comparing single shot versus continuous transversus abdominis plane (TAP) block for postoperative analgesia after laparoscopic live donor nephrectomy.

Good pain control after surgery has been shown to decrease complications. To address the problem of postoperative pain control in donor nephrectomy patients,the study investigators began performing Transversus Abdominis Plane (TAP) blocks. The TAP block involves injection of local anesthetic between the abdominal muscle planes (internal oblique muscle and transversus abdominis muscle), to block the somatic nerves that supply sensation to the skin, muscles, and parietal peritoneum of the anterior abdominal wall. Prior reports of TAP blocks have shown that it provides good analgesia for postoperative pain after abdominal surgery. However because the duration of postoperative pain exceeds that of the single shot TAP block, the investigators hypothesized that by placing a catheter through which a continuous infusion of local anesthetic could be delivered, investigators could provide analgesia throughout the postoperative period. The study investigators also hypothesized that improved analgesia would decrease the need for opioid pain medications, hence decreasing the side effects associated with opioid use.

This study is designed to test our hypothesis that placing a TAP catheter is superior to single shot TAP, because it provides a longer duration of analgesia and decreases narcotic use.

Arms:
arm 1: (TAP-S) - the On-Q reservoir will be filled with saline and set to infuse at rate of 10 ml/hr through the TAP catheter arm 2: (TAP-C) - The On-Q reservoir will be filled with 0.2% ropivacaine and set to infuse at rate of 10 ml/hr through the TAP catheter

Interventions: intervention 1: TAP-C intervention 2: TAP-S
Intervention descriptions: intervention 1: TAP catheters with ropivacaine infusion are inserted into the TAP area after a single shot TAP block. Single shot TAP block is performed using 30ml 0.5% ropivacaine at the end of the case. intervention 2: Catheters with saline infusion are inserted into the TAP area after a single shot TAP block. Single shot TAP block is performed using 30ml 0.5% ropivacaine at the end of the case.

Protocol document: