Comparison of Analgesic Efficacy of Ultrasound-Guided Interscalene Block Versus Continuous Subacromial Infusion for Postoperative Analgesia Following Arthroscopic Rotator Cuff Repair Surgeries: A Randomized Trial

BACKGROUND Arthroscopic rotator cuff repair surgery may lead to significant postoperative pain. Interscalene block (ISB) is an effective analgesic technique in these surgeries but there is a risk of the phrenic blockade. Subacromial local anesthetic infiltration is a phrenic sparing alternative technique for postoperative analgesia. The primary aim of our study was to compare the ISB with a continuous subacromial infusion (SAC) with regard to postoperative analgesia. METHODS  This prospective randomized, interventional parallel arm trial was conducted in 60 ASA grade I and II, adult patients (30 patients in each group) posted for arthroscopic rotator cuff repair surgery. Patients were randomly assigned to receive either ultrasound-guided ISB (Group ISB: 15 ml of 0.75% ropivacaine) or continuous SAC (Group SAC: 15 ml 0.75% ropivacaine as a subacromial injection by ultrasound guidance and infusion of 3 ml/hour of 0.5% ropivacaine through the catheter placed subacromial by the surgeon). Intraoperative hemodynamic parameters, visual analog scores (VAS), and rescue analgesic requirements for 24 hours, patient satisfaction, and complications were recorded. RESULTS Rescue analgesic requirement was significantly higher in SAC at zero hours (P=0.000), while it was significantly higher in ISB at 12 hours (P=0.02). The VAS scores were comparable at all time points and patient satisfaction at 24 hours was similar. None of the patients had rated satisfaction related to pain relief as poor in any group. Complications like ptosis and motor weakness were seen only with ISB. CONCLUSION Both the techniques provided effective analgesia and comparable patient satisfaction with lesser incidence of complications in the SAC group. ISB provided more effective immediate postoperative pain relief while SAC was more effective in delayed analgesia for arthroscopic rotator cuff repair surgeries. SAC can be considered a reasonably safe alternative to ISB in patients with contraindications to the latter.