Table 2.

Overall recommendations for pain management in patients undergoing video‐assisted thoracoscopic surgery.

Pre‐operative and intra‐operative

Paracetamol (Grade D)

NSAID (Grade D)/COX‐2‐specific inhibitor (Grade D)

Dexmedetomidine (excluding patient with severe cardiac disease or conduction and/or rhythm disorders) (Grade B)

Postoperative

Paracetamol (Grade D)

COX‐2‐specific inhibitor/NSAIDs (Grade D)

Opioid for rescue (Grade D)

Regional analgesia

Paravertebral block: single‐shot (Grade A); continuous (Grade A)

Erector spinae plane block: single‐shot (Grade A); continuous (Grade B)

Serratus anterior plane block: single‐shot (Grade A); continuous (Grade D)