Insights
Nerve blocks in breast surgery: a promising one
A randomized, double-blind trial found a newer block cut pain medicine requests substantially.
Pain & comfort · 2 min read
A nerve block places local anesthetic near the nerves that serve a region, so signals never reach the brain. For breast surgery, newer pectoral-area blocks are being studied.
In a randomized, double-blind controlled trial of 30 women undergoing breast augmentation with silicone implants, the S-PECS block (a serratus anterior plus PECS-2 combination) produced lower pain scores at recovery and at 4, 6 and 12 hours. Patients with the block were 74% less likely to request pain medication than those who received saline.
Limits: it was a small, single-centre study. Not every patient needs a block, and the right choice depends on the operation and the anesthesiologist’s judgment.
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References
- Sforza M, Saghir R, Saghir N, et al. Assessing the efficacy of the S-PECS block in breast augmentation surgery: a randomized, double-blind, controlled trial. Plast Reconstr Surg. 2024;1e-9e. PMID 37010475