Toward Opioid-Free Fast Track for Pediatric Congenital Cardiac Surgery

We read with interest the article by Krishna et al.1 that reported reduced opioid use, time to extubation, and intensive care unit stay in patients with erector spinae plane blocks (ESPBs) after sternotomy. We have used ESPB catheters alongside multimodal intravenous analgesic techniques successfully to minimize adult and pediatric cardiac patients ’ pain at our institution, and in some circumstances effectively eliminating the need for postoperative opioids in adults.2,3 With patient assent and written parental consent, we report a pediatric patient who received bilateral ESPB catheters and a multimodal intraoperative analgesic for congenit al heart surgery and required no postoperative opioids for sternotomy pain.

Source: Journal of Cardiothoracic and Vascular Anesthesia - March 6, 2019 Category: Anesthesiology Authors: Mohammad Esfahanian, Thomas J. Caruso, Carole Lin, Calvin Kuan, Neha Joshi Purkey, Katsuhide Maeda, Ban C.H. Tsui Tags: Letter to the Editor Source Type: research