Ultrasound-guided Pectoral Nerve Block in Combination with Interpleural Block for Surgical Anesthesia during Breast Cancer Surgery: A Prospective Feasibility Study

The aim of this study was to evaluate the feasibility of ultrasound-guided pectoral nerve block combined with interpleural block for surgical anesthesia during the modified radical mastectomy (MRM). Thirty-six female patients scheduled to undergo MRM were included in this study. After taking all aseptic precautions, an ultrasound-guided pectoral nerve block and interpleural block were performed with 20 ml of 0.25% bupivacaine for each block. We started all patients on dexmedetomidine infusion to achieve conscious sedation and used injection ketamine as rescue analgesia. We recorded hemodynamic parameters throughout the surgery and visual analog scale scores of pain at baseline and after providing rescue analgesia. Postoperatively, we assessed surgeon and patient satisfaction scores. MRM was completed in 31 (86%) out of the 36 recruited patients. Among these 31 patients, 5 (16%) did not require a rescue dose of ketamine, 14 (45%) required one rescue dose, and 12 (39%) patients required two rescue doses of ketamine. Postoperatively, the median patient and surgeon satisfaction scores were 85 (75–90) and 85 (80–90), respectively. The mean dose of dexmedetomidine was 175 (±27) μg, and the mean dose of ketamine was 32.8 (±6) mg. No serious adverse events were reported. MRM can be feasibly performed under ultrasound-guided pectoral nerve block and interpleural block, along with conscious sedation, without any significant adverse events.