Anesthetic and Analgesic Efficient of Regional Nerve Blockade in Otoplasty.

[AIM] The prominent ear is the most common congenital deformity of the external ear. Otoplasty is performed to correct the appearance of the prominent ear. This study was planned to compare the analgesic and anesthetic effects of local nerve blockade and local infiltration anesthesia in the otoplasties.

[METHOD] Thirty-two patients who underwent otoplasty in both ears between February 2018 and March 2019 were included in the study. Three patients were excluded because they refused regional anesthesia. In the patients included in the study, only local infiltration anesthesia was applied to 1 ear and regional nerve blockade was applied to the other ear. Regional nerve blockade was applied to the study group; local infiltration anesthesia was applied to the control group. Surgical and anesthetic complications were recorded. The onset time, duration and severity of pain were followed. Numerical evaluation scale scores were used to evaluate pain levels.

[RESULTS] It was observed that the first pain of the patients On the side where regional nerve block (RNB) anesthesia was applied after an average of 10.5 hours. On the other hand on the side where local infiltration anesthesia was applied; the pain was observed to start after an average of 3.5 hours. At the 6th and 12th hours postoperatively, the scores of the numerical evaluation scale were significantly lower in the study group than the control group (P < 0.05). At the 24th-hour pain score, the values were lower in the study group, but the difference was not significant between the groups (P > 0.05). In the regional anesthesia group, can develop such as difficulty in swallowing, weakness in the neck, weakness in the upper extremity, nausea, Horner syndrome; but all side effects resolve spontaneously within 6 to 12 hours.

[CONCLUSION] The application of regional anesthesia in prominent ear surgical procedures can be considered as an alternative method to provide better quality preoperative anesthesia and better quality postoperative analgesia in patients.