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P222 Postoperative pain management in low-resource settings: experience with ultrasound-guided regional anesthesia in tanzania

rapm · 2025-09-10 · canonical JSON source

7 visible annotations · policy: published · automated confidence ≥ 75.00%

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Background and Aims Postoperative pain remains an undervalued aspect of surgical care in low-resource settings. However, adequate pain control has been associated with better functional recovery, shorter hospital stays, and higher patient satisfaction. In previous campaigns conducted by our team, regional anesthesia has been used as an analgesic tool in these contexts, although often performed using anatomical landmark techniques due to the lack of ultrasound devices—an approach that increases the risk of complications and results in variable analgesic efficacy.Methods In this context, we carried out a surgical campaign in April 2025 at the District Hospital of Kwimba, Tanzania, performing a total of 30 procedures: 29 abdominal wall surgeries (5 in pediatric patients) and one upper limb surgery. In all cases, peripheral nerve blocks were administered for postoperative pain control, this time guided by portable ultrasound. Given the absence of post-anesthesia care units and the limited availability of opioids, our aim was to provide effective, safe, and sustainable analgesia using local resources.Results Results showed that 28 patients were discharged within the first 24 hours, presenting a VAS score < 5 with simple oral analgesia. Only two patients required extended observation due to surgical site hematoma, with no relevant clinical consequences.Abstract P222 Figure 1Transabdominal plane block before inguinal hernioplasty surgeryConclusions This experience suggests that even in resource-limited settings, the use of ultrasound-guided nerve blocks significantly improves postoperative pain management, enabling early recovery, prompt mobilization, and reduced hospital stays. The introduction of accessible technology such as portable ultrasound devices can make a substantial difference in care quality, promoting safe, reproducible regional anesthesia with direct clinical impact.