A Comparative Study of Automated Pulsed Bolus versus Continuous Basal Infusion on Distribution of Contrast in the Transversus Abdominis Fascial Plane in a Cadaver: A Technical Report

Abstract

Integrating regional anesthesia and multi-modal pain management is a well described and successful strategy to reduce post-operative pain. The use of transversus abdominis plane (TAP) blocks has been well-described for abdominal surgery, which includes various injection sites to improve analgesic coverage and catheter usage to prolong duration of analgesia. After a cadaver contrast study, our investigation illustrates that, for a TAP catheter block, a programmed intermittent bolus provides greater spread of the injection in the fascial plane as compared to a continuous infusion. Clinical trials are needed to investigate if these findings translate to greater analgesic coverage of the anterior abdominal wall, particularly in the subcostal region.