Assessment of ultrasound-guided abdominal wall nerve block for postoperative pain control and optimization of opioid utilization in patients undergoing abdominal surgery

This retrospective cohort study was conducted at the Affiliated Jinhua Hospital of Zhejiang University (Jinhua, Zhejiang, China) to evaluate the effects of ultrasound-assisted abdominal wall nerve block on postoperative pain and opioid use in abdominal surgery patients. A total of 104 patients were included, with 51 receiving traditional blind nerve block and 53 receiving ultrasound-guided nerve block. The results showed that the ultrasound-guided group had significantly lower pain scores at 6, 12 and 24 hours, as well as reduced opioid consumption within the first 24 hours. Additionally, patients in the ultrasound-guided group reported higher satisfaction on postoperative days 1 (9.05±1.21 vs. 8.22±1.34, P=0.001), 3 (9.97±1.32 vs. 9.11±1.45, P=0.002) and 7 (9.92±1.09 vs. 9.25±1.21, P=0.004). Statistical analysis was performed using SPSS 25.0 (SPSS Inc., Chicago, IL, USA), with t-tests for continuous variables and Chi-square tests for categorical variables. A corrected chi-square test was applied when 1?T<5 and Fisher’s exact test was used for small sample sizes. Results with P-values below 0.05 were considered statistically significant. Our findings suggest that ultrasound-guided nerve block is effective in reducing postoperative pain, opioid use, and enhancing patient satisfaction.