International Forum of Allergy & Rhinology | 2021
A randomized placebo‐controlled trial assessing sphenopalatine ganglion block in endoscopic sinus surgery
Abstract
The sphenopalatine ganglion (SPG) is the main sensory innervation to the nasal mucosa. In the last decade, several placebo-controlled studies investigated the analgesic efficacy of SPG block (SPGB) following sinus surgery and before removal of nasal packing.1–4 In a meta-analysis including eight randomized controlled studies, Kim et al.5 showed that SPGB with local anesthetic was effective in reducing pain after endoscopic sinus surgery (ESS). The limitations of this meta-analysis are the heterogeneity of the protocols with different primary outcomes measures, the lack of allocation concealment for the SPGBprocedure, and relatively small sample sizes. Our objective was to assess the benefit of transnasal SPGB with ropivacaine in addition to multimodal general anesthesia on pain management, after ESS and during the first postoperative week.