Thyroid surgery may cause severe
postoperative pain and discomfort for patients. Superficial
cervical plexus block (
SCPB) is one of the
regional anesthesia techniques that can provide postoperative
analgesia for thyroid surgery. The purpose of this study was to evaluate
analgesic effect of ultrasound (US) guided
SCPB in patients undergoing thyroid surgery. Fifty ASA I-II patients, aged 20-60, were included in this single blinded study. In a randomized and prospective manner patients were allocated to either
SCPB or control group. Bilateral
SCPB was performed preoperatively under US guidance using 10 ml 0.25 %
bupivacaine for each side. Postoperative
analgesia was provided with
patient-controlled analgesia method with
morphine intravenous. Primary outcome measure was postoperative
opioid consumption and analyzed using Mann-Whitney U test. Secondary outcome measures were comparison of
opioid side effects like
nausea and
vomiting and analyzed using Chi square test. VAS scores for
pain at postoperative 1st, 6th, 12th, and 24th h were similar in
SCPB and control groups (Median VAS values were 2.5, 3, 2, 0 and 3.5, 3, 2, 0 respectively). Postoperative
morphine consumption was lower in
SCPB group compared to control group at postoperative 6th, 12th, and 24th h (Median doses of
morphine consumption were 4, 8, 9 and 5, 9, 11 mg respectively) (P < 0.05). Eight patients in the control group and six patients in the SCBP group had
vomiting. Seven patients in the
SCPB and none in the control group had
hoarseness. Our study has shown that US guided
SCPB has a significant
analgesic effect in patients undergoing thyroid surgery. Further studies are required to search for the optimal LA dose during US guided
SCPB.