Costal Cartilage Donor-site Pain: Does Abdominal Muscle Infiltration Analgesia Work?

After suturing the muscular fascia, an indwelling catheter was placed above the RAM and EOM and under the subcutaneous tissue and then sutured to the skin for fixation. Approximately 30 min before surgery completion, 1 mg/kg of 0.2% ropivacaine was infused through the indwelling catheter for IA. Additionally, 1 mg/kg of 0.2% ropivacaine was infused through the indwelling catheter every 12 h, starting 8 h postoperatively, injected four times.

After completion of the operation, the anesthesiologist used the IPCA device; it was programmed with a background infusion rate of 2 mL/h, a bolus volume of 2 mL, and a lockout interval of 15 minutes. The 100 mL total volume of the PCA consisted of normal saline, 2.0 ug/kg sufentanil, and adjuvant antiemetic (tropisetron).