The Effect of Nerve Blocks on Analgesia in Breast Cancer Surgery

Postoperative pain following modified radical mastectomy remains a significant clinical concern and may adversely affect patient recovery, opioid consumption, and overall patient satisfaction. Ultrasound-guided regional anesthesia techniques have gained increasing importance as part of multimodal analgesia strategies in breast surgery. The serratus anterior plane (SAP) block is a commonly used interfascial plane block for postoperative analgesia in thoracic and breast procedures. Recently, the serratus posterior superior intercostal plane (SPSIP) block has emerged as a novel regional anesthesia technique with potentially wider thoracic dermatomal spread and effective analgesic properties. This prospective randomized controlled study aims to compare the postoperative analgesic efficacy of the SPSIP block and SAP block in patients undergoing modified radical mastectomy under general anesthesia. Patients will be randomly allocated into two groups to receive either ultrasound-guided SPSIP block or SAP block preoperatively. Primary outcomes will include postoperative pain scores and opioid consumption within the first 24 hours after surgery. Secondary outcomes will include time to first analgesic request, rescue analgesic requirements, intraoperative hemodynamic parameters, postoperative nausea and vomiting, block-related complications, and patient satisfaction. The study is designed to evaluate whether SPSIP block provides superior postoperative analgesia compared with SAP block in modified radical mastectomy surgery.