Dexamethasone As Adjuvant for Pre - emptiveTransversusAbdominus Muscle Plane Block

Pain following bariatric surgery can be quite troublesome and prolongs recovery. Although laparoscopic bariatric surgery is minimally invasive and involves small incisions over the anterior abdominal wall, postoperative pain is frequent.

This this increases incidence of deep vein thrombosis and risk of pulmonary complications respectively. Because postoperative recovery is directly associated with the intensity and duration of pain, it is imperative to reduce the postoperative pain as early as possible. A substantial component of pain experienced by patients undergoing laparoscopic surgery is somatic pain arising from the port sites over the abdominal wall.

Many methods have been suggested for reducing the postoperative abdominal wall pain such as port site instillation of local anesthetics, patient-controlled analgesia (PCA), epidural catheterization, and use of non-steroidal anti-inflammatory drugs (NSAIDS). Opioid analgesics to counter immediate acute postoperative pain are known to cause postoperative nausea and vomiting (PONV).

The average reported incidence of PONV in immediate postoperative period in patients undergoing bariatric surgery is between 30 and 50% [5]. This contributes to increased costs, increased length of stay, increased perioperative morbidity, and prolonged overall recovery [6]. Systemically administered opioids also depress respiratory drive, level of consciousness, and supraglottic airway muscle tone resulting in hypoxia and hypercapnia.

The TransversusAbdominis Plane (TAP) block is a loco-regional analgesia technique that consists of infiltrating a local anesthetic solution between the plane of the transversus-abdominis muscle and the internal oblique muscle, laterally at the level of the triangle of Petit. The sensory nerves of the abdominal wall pass through this plane. This technique produces long-lasting analgesia, between 24-36 hours.

Inclusion criteria

• 40 patients with American Society of Anesthesiologists (ASA) grade I to II, 20 to 65 years of age scheduled for Laparoscopic Sleeve Gastrectomy.

Exclusion criteria

• patient refusal.
• Chronic alcoholism
• Chronic opioid usage
• ASA Grade 4 or more
• Chronic kidney disease
• Chronic liver disease
• Chronic obstructive pulmonary disease.
• Known allergy to study medications.
• Pregnancy.