Quadratus Lumborum Block

Excerpt

Healthcare providers have used many regional, anesthetic modalities to provide analgesia for the thorax, abdomen, and pelvis. While each of these modalities has a wide range of applications, their utility is limited by a few contraindications. As an alternative to neuraxial anesthetics, truncal nerve blocks and interfascial plane blocks for postoperative analgesia have been used for nearly a half-century. Practitioners initially used these as ilioinguinal, iliohypogastric, rectus sheath blocks, and in the early 21st century, transversus abdominis plane (TAP) blocks. This article reviews a recent variation of the TAP block developed by Rafael Blanco, known as the quadratus lumborum block (QLB).