The Effects of Body Mass Index on Erector Spinae Plane Block Analgesia

In recent years, obesity has become one of the leading health problems worldwide. It is known that obesity can cause various diseases and negatively impact the quality of life. Therefore, many conditions believed to be affected by obesity and relevant to patients' quality of life have been scientifically investigated and continue to be researched. One of these conditions is postoperative pain, with studies in the literature indicating that postoperative pain levels increase in parallel with each unit increase in BMI.

The incidence of lumbar disc herniation (LDH) is on the rise and adversely affecting the quality of life. The primary surgical intervention for LDH is discectomy. In recent years, various less invasive techniques, such as microdiscectomy, have been described to improve both surgical and analgesic outcomes. However, even with microdiscectomy surgery, postoperative pain may occur, and its control should be well-managed. Inadequate pain control can lead to unwanted effects of postoperative pain. Regional analgesia techniques may be preferred for effective analgesic treatment after spinal surgery. Methods such as paravertebral block, erector spinae plane block (ESPB), thoracolumbar interfascial plane block are widely used for analgesia in spinal surgery. The effectiveness of these regional techniques may vary depending on various factors, one of which is BMI.

The hypothesis in this study is that as BMI increases, the level of pain in patients may also increase. As a result, this study aims to investigate the relationship between BMI and postoperative pain levels in patients undergoing standard LDH surgery, anesthesia, and analgesia.