Transversus Abdominis Plan (TAP) Block for Transcatheter Aortic Valve Implantation (TAVI)

While common aortic valve stenosis was previously treated with surgical aortic valve replacement, with the developments in the field of interventional cardiology, Transcatheter Aortic Valve Implantation (TAVI) has emerged as an alternative to surgery in recent years and has become the first choice in the treatment of inoperable patients with severe aortic stenosis. Especially patients who are elderly, have chronic illnesses, have a high surgical risk, and whose general health condition is not suitable for surgery can be treated with this method.

Mostly the femoral artery is preferred for TAVI access because it has a large lumen (8-9 mm) and has less anatomical variation. After the inguinal ligament, the iliac artery, originating from the abdominal aorta, is called the femoral artery. Since this region is safe, it is preferred in cardiac interventions.

Transversus abdominis plane (TAP) block aims to block the ilioinguinal and iliohypogastric nerves which contribute to the sensory innervation of the femoral region used for endovascular cardiac interventions. No studies have been found on the analgesic efficacy of TAP block in TAVI procedures.

Local anesthesia and sedation as standard procedure will be applied to the control group (SCG) (n: 25). In TAP block group (TAPG) (n:25) standard procedure and unilateral ultrasound (USG)-guided TAP block will be performed. In both groups, all patients will receive 2 mg intravenous midazolam. Sedation will be achieved with dexmedetomidine at a rate of 0.2-0.7 µg/kg/h, to maintain a target Bispectral index (BIS) between 70 and 80. Before the start of the procedure, 50 µg intravenous fentanyl will be administered to all patients. If patients experience pain or movement during the procedure, rescue analgesia will be administered as fentanyl (0.5 to 1 µg/kg). In the event of the patient experiencing discomfort due to inadequate analgesia, doses of ketamine and propofol with 1:1 ratio (0.20 to 0.25 mg/kg) will be administered as the rescue sedo-analgesia protocol. All medications will be recorded.

Patients' demographic data, hemodynamic parameters, total anesthetic drug consumption, procedure duration, complications seen during the procedure will be recorded. The pain level felt during procedure from valve positioning to deployment, when placing and withdrawing sheath and during sandbag compression at 4th postoperative hour will be recorded according to the Numeric rating scale-11 (NRS-11) scoring system. 5-point Likert scale will be used for patient and physician satisfaction.

Cardiac endovascular catheterization procedures such as TAVI are often anxiety-provoking and uncomfortable for patients. The anesthesia method may vary depending on the experience of the cardiology team, the characteristics of the patients and the procedure to be performed. In TAVI procedures, which were initially performed under general anesthesia, a combination of local anesthesia and sedation was preferred as the team's experience developed. Hemodynamic stability and patient immobilization are the main goals of the anesthetic method during TAVI. Due to pain, patients may develop hemodynamic instability and may move. This is an undesirable situation for cardiac patients. It may affect the quality of the procedure for the cardiologist and may cause complications and longer procedure times. Examining the effectiveness of anesthesia by applying TAP block accompanied by sedation and physician and patient satisfaction during and after the procedure forms the basis of the research. First aim of the study is to demonstrate the analgesic effectiveness of ultrasound-guided TAP block application in the femoral region before the procedure in 50 patients who underwent TAVI. Secondary aims are to reduce the need for anesthetic- analgesic drugs and to investigate patient and physician satisfaction and to investigate the incidence of unexpected patient movements.