Comparative study of postoperative analgesia with Transversus Abdominal Plane block and Quadratus Lumborum Block after cesarean section.

Introduction: Postoperative pain management is crucial in cesarean sectionto ensure maternal comfort, facilitate early mobilization and reduce opioidconsumption. Regional analgesia techniques like TAP and QL blocks havegained popularity due to their other analgesics and opioid sparing benefits. Thisstudy aims to compare the effectiveness of these two techniques in managingpostoperative pain. Methods: A total of 48 patients undergoing elective cesarean section wererandomly assigned to receive either TAP block (n=24) or QL block(n=24).Various parameters such as age, weight, parity, postoperative pain scores (VASat 2,4,8,12 and 24 hours), time to first rescue analgesia and total paracetamolconsumption within 24 hours were recorded. Results : There were no significant differences in age (p = 0.223) or weight (p =0.87). Parity was significantly higher in the QL group (p = 0.014). No significantdifferences in VAS scores at 2h, 4h, 8h, and 12h. At 24h, the QL group reportedsignificantly lower pain scores (p = 0.002). Time to first rescue analgesia wassignificantly longer in the QL group (10.29 ± 0.75 hrs) compared to the TAP group(8.12 ± 1.29 hrs) (p < 0.001). The QL group required significantly less paracetamol(2.25 ± 0.67 g) compared to the TAP group (2.75 ± 0.60 g) (p = 0.017). Conclusion: QL block is more effective than TAP block for prolongedpostoperative analgesia following cesarean section. Its ability to delay theneed for rescue analgesia and reduce analgesic consumption makes it apreferable option for enhanced recovery protocols