Why carry out this study?

Breast surgery is a common surgery, and more than half who experience breast cancer surgery develop postoperative chronic pain.

Ultrasound (US)-guided erector spinae plane block (ESPB) is a new analgesic technique proposed by Forero et al. Dexmedetomidine-assisted local anesthetic agents accelerated the onset and extended the duration of block in brachial plexus block.

We hypothesized that ESPB with dexmedetomidine (1 μg/kg−1) had better analgesic effect than ESPB alone in breast cancer surgery.

What was learned from the study?

This study revealed that dexmedetomidine (1 μg/kg−1) combined with 0.33% ropivacaine ESPB can better provide postoperative analgesia, and reduce intraoperative opioid consumption.

Dexmedetomidine (1 μg/kg−1) combined with 0.33% ropivacaine ESPB can better provide postoperative analgesia than without dexmedetomidine performance.

Dexmedetomidine combined with ESPB effectively improves postoperative analgesia and comfort level in patients undergoing modified radical mastectomy.