The Role of Tab Block Anesthesia in Enhancing Patient Quality of Life: Findings from a Cross-Sectional Study in Iraq

Abstract

The transversus abdominis plane (TAP) block has gained popularity as a technique of multimodal analgesia in the post-surgical setting. The goal of this cross-sectional study was to investigate whether TAP block has an impact on postoperative pain, opioid consumption, complications, and Quality of Life (QoL) in a patient sample that underwent surgery.

The sample consisted of 105 patients who underwent elective abdominal surgery, and the study relied on two groups that were comparable in size and characteristics: the TAP block group (n = 53) and the control group (n = 52). Outcomes were reported in the study, which were related to the patients’ experience during the recovery period: Visual Analog Scale (VAS) at 0, 6, 12, 24, and 48 hours; 24-hour opioid consumption; additional and pain relief medications used; nausea and vomiting; Quality of Recovery (QoR-15); final SF-36 scores and patient satisfaction; length of stay in the hospital.

According to the results of this study, the TAP Block group demonstrated considerably lower pain levels from the 6th hour of observation, lower consumption of opioids over the 24 hours (almost half compared to the control group), fewer requests for additional analgesia, improved scores on QoR-15 and SF-36 (physical component) on the 30th day, shorter time of stay in the hospital, and higher indexes of patient satisfaction. The independent predictors of favorable composite qualitative outcome in the adjusted logistic model (pseudo-R² = 0.41) were a higher QoR-15 score on the 30th day and absence of PONV instead of belonging to the TAP Block group.