Abdominal Wall Blocks

Abstract

The popularity of abdominal wall blocks has dramatically increased in recent years. Anesthesiologists are changing from thoracic epidural analgesia to peripheral nerve blocks as a postoperative pain management tool due to increasing use of minimally invasive laparoscopy and widespread use of postoperative anticoagulation therapy. Initially, transversus abdominis plane（TAP）block was introduced with the technique of ultrasound guidance. Many blocks, such as subcostal TAP block and quadratus lumborum block, are used to obtain extensive abdominal analgesia compared to TAP block. This review describes the applied anatomy of the abdominal wall and basic technical considerations of these blocks.