The effectiveness of the combined use of intravenous analgesia and intercostal nerve block in pain control of patients with rib fractures admitted to the emergency service

Introduction: Traumatic rib fractures are a common injury in the trauma population and may cause severe pain in cases of both isolated rib fractures and chest injuries. The aim of our study was to compare the early pain control of intercostal block with that of intravenous analgesia + intercostal block in patients with rib fractures admitted to the emergency department due to blunt thoracic trauma.

Method: Patients admitted to the emergency department due to blunt thoracic trauma in a tertiary medical facility were retrospectively evaluated. 48 patients were included in the study. The patients were divided into 2 groups as performed only intercostal block and intravenous analgesia+intercostal block.

Results: 9 patients (18.7%) were performed only blockage, while 39 patients (81.3%) were performed intravenous analgesia+intercostal block. Considering the early pain results of group A(intercostal block) and group B(intravenous analgesia+intercostal block), a significant improvement was observed in group B in terms of pain results after the first 15 minutes.

Conclusion: We concluded that the combination of intravenous NSAIDs or opioid derivatives and intercostal nerve blockage would be an effective combination in pain control in patients with rib fractures. In addition, we think that intercostal nerve block will be beneficial in pain control and increase respiratory efficiency in patients with rib fractures, since it is both easy to apply and accelerates healing by providing effective analgesia. Due to these positive effects, we think that it reduces the duration of hospital stay and will be very beneficial in terms of efficiency and cost.