Erector spinae plane block: an innovation or a delusion?

What it found

Each row is one number read from the abstract, on the scale the paper reported it, with its interval. Left of the dashed line favours the treatment, right favours the comparator. Under each row is the sentence it came from. New to these charts? A ten-minute tutorial.

The abstract states no effect estimate the extractor could read, or names no intervention and outcome on the map, so this paper lights no cell and moves no belief. It is still indexed, cited and linked below.

The trial behind it

Trials whose registry record cites this paper, or whose number appears in the abstract. A trial that started after this paper was published is citing it as background, not reporting it.

Neither the registry nor the abstract names a trial number. If this is a trial report, that itself is worth knowing.

Who cites it

14 citing papers in PubMed, 3 syntheses or guidelines pooled it.

1. Erector Spinae Plane Block vs. Intercostal Nerve Block for Pain Management in Thoracic Surgeries and Chest Wall Traumas: A Meta-Analysis.Current pain and headache reports · 2026
   Pooled it
2. Efficacy of Erector Spinae Block on Postoperative Outcomes in Bariatric Surgery Patients: A Systematic Review, Meta-Regression, and Trial-Sequential Analysis of Randomized Controlled Trials.Obesity surgery · 2026
   Pooled it
3. Effect of erector spinae block on postoperative outcomes in patients undergoing lung surgical procedures: a systematic review and trial sequential analysis of randomized controlled trials.BMC anesthesiology · 2026
   Pooled it
4. Abdominal Wall Block Decreases Intraoperative Opioid Con-Sumption by Surgical Pleth Index-Guided Remifentanil Administration in Single-Port Laparoscopic Herniorrhaphy: A Prospective Randomized Controlled Trial.International journal of environmental research and public health · 2022
   Trial
5. Ultrasound-guided erector spinae plane block for open inguinal hernia repair: a randomized controlled trial.Brazilian journal of anesthesiology (Elsevier)
   Trial
6. [Comparison between erector spinal plane block and epidural block techniques for postoperative analgesia in open cholecystectomies: a randomized clinical trial].Brazilian journal of anesthesiology (Elsevier)
   Trial
7. Comparing erector spinae plane (ESP) and thoracic paravertebral (TPV) block analgesic effect after elective video-assisted thoracic surgery: a randomized, multiple-blinded, non-inferiority trial.Journal of thoracic disease · 2025
   Article
8. Retro superior costotransverse ligament space block as an effective analgesia after laparoscopic gastrectomy -a case report.Korean journal of anesthesiology · 2024
   Article
9. How to prevent opioid abuse and addiction.Korean journal of anesthesiology · 2023
   Article
10. Ultrasound Guided Continuous Erector Spinae Plane Block versus Patient Controlled Analgesia in Open Nephrectomy for Renal Malignancies: A Randomized Controlled Study.Journal of pain research · 2022
    Article
11. The efficacy of ultrasound-guided erector spinae plane block after mastectomy and immediate breast reconstruction with a tissue expander: a randomized clinical trial.The Korean journal of pain · 2021
    Article
12. Multimodal analgesia with multiple intermittent doses of erector spinae plane block through a catheter after total mastectomy: a retrospective observational study.The Korean journal of pain · 2019
    Article
13. Intermittent erector spinae plane block as a part of multimodal analgesia after open nephrectomy.Chinese medical journal · 2019
    Article
14. Erector spinae plane block for multimodal analgesia after wide midline laparotomy: A case report.Medicine · 2019
    Article

Corrections and comments

• Comment on
  Erector spinae plane block for pediatric hip surgery -a case report.2019

Authors and funding

1 author.

Funding

No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.

Abstract

PubMed holds no abstract for this paper.

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