key: cord-0859597-jo3q7ps6
authors: Tulgar, Serkan; Ahiskalioglu, Ali; Thomas, David Terence; Gurkan, Yavuz
title: Interfascial plane blocks as shortcut alternatives for regional anesthesia and pain management for SARS-CoV-2 days: Not deeper, not longer. Be safe for everyone
date: 2020-06-01
journal: J Clin Anesth
DOI: 10.1016/j.jclinane.2020.109948
sha: b76310c8dab5890683aa8b8fbe8954851414b846
doc_id: 859597
cord_uid: jo3q7ps6

nan

J o u r n a l P r e -p r o o f Dear editor, SARS-CoV-2 (COVID-19) has been a problem for the whole world since the beginning of 2020, and the war against this virus should be the top priority of all healthcare professionals.

Elective surgical procedures have been delayed or significantly reduced. Many issues that were our first priority before the pandemic have now been pushed into the background. The anesthesiology community has been testing new methods for opioid sparing anesthesia and analgesia for years and setting in these methods as a principle in the protocols we chose; we cannot currently, due to the Covid-19 pandemic condemn patients to opioids [1] [2] [3] .

In this article, we want to emphasise the main target as perioperative analgesia and chronic pain management, and we describe what we believe is the right way forward for achieving this goal. In recent years, metanalyses have been published showing that the use of interfacial blocks as part of multimodal analgesia reduces postoperative opioid requirement in surgical patients [4] . We have some suggestions in the analgesia plan of patients that are suspect of having or have been diagnosed with COVID-19.

1.As before, during this period, interfacial plan blocks should be continued and patients should be given as few opioids as possible during the postoperative period. injections, sacral foraminal injections, and the processing time is very short. It has been reported that ESPB can be used in place of epidural injections and LA spread has been shown radiologically [5] .

One of the most important issues is the careful use of personal protective equipment and the preparation and disinfection of the procedure room. The screen and control panel of the ultrasound machine must be covered with disposable plastic covers to protect it from contamination.

We, the authors, have presented our professional comments and suggestions on the use of interfacial blocks in this unusual time frame. There is a need for comprehensive guidelines on regional anesthesia in the pandemic process which appears will last longer than expected.

Advocate for regional anesthesia in the corona pandemic?

Regional anesthesia during the COVID-19 pandemic: a time to reconsider practices? (Letter #1)

Gumus Demirbilek S. Regional anesthesia in patients with suspected COVID-19 infection

The effect of ultrasound-guided erector spinae plane block on postsurgical pain: a meta-analysis of randomized controlled trials

Is high volume lumbar erector spinae plane block an alternative to transforaminal epidural injection? Evaluation with MRI