Breast Surgery Using Thoracic Paravertebral Blockade and Sedation Alone

Table 1

Summary table of surgical cases, number of dermatomal levels blocked, prilocaine 0.5% top-up, intercostobrachial (ICB) nerve sacrifice, recovery opiate requirement, and length of stay data.

Procedure TPVB levels		Mean LOS (days)	Prilocaine top-up ()	ICB Nerve cut ()	Recovery opiates ()	Comments
Mastectomy
1 level	4	2.0	2	0	0	Longest LOS 4 days, social reasons
Mastectomy with ANC
1 level	3	3.0	1	2	0	Longest LOS 5 days, social reasons
2 levels	3	1.0	0	3	1
Mastectomy with SNB
1 level	1	1.0	0	0	0
2 levels	2	2.0	1	0	2
3 levels	2	4.5	0	0	1	Longest LOS 7 days, infective diarrhoea
Wide local excision
1 level	3	0	0	0	0
Wide local excision with SNB
1 level	2	0	0	0	1
2 levels	3	1.3	0	0	0
Wire localised biopsy
1 level	2	0	0	0	0
2 levels	1	0	0	0	0
Cavity re-excision
1 level	2	0.5	0	0	1
Total	28		4	5	6