The erector spinae plane block: the case of the elusive mechanism of action.

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

10 citing papers in PubMed.

1. [Peripheral regional anesthesia and analgesia: "the magnificent seven" for training].Die Anaesthesiologie · 2026
   Review
2. Advances of regional nerve blocks for postoperative analgesia in laparoscopic gynecological surgery: precision, innovation, and future directions.Frontiers in medicine · 2026
   Review
3. Regional Anesthesia Techniques for Breast Cancer Surgeries-A Narrative Review.Indian journal of surgical oncology · 2025
   Review
4. Analgesic efficacy of an opioid-free postoperative pain management strategy versus a conventional opioid-based strategy following open major hepatectomy: an open-label, randomised, controlled, non-inferiority trial.EClinicalMedicine · 2023
   Article
5. Comparison of Performance Characteristics and Efficacy of Bilateral Thoracic Paravertebral Blocks in Obese and Non-Obese Patients Undergoing Reduction Mammaplasty Surgery: A Historical Cohort Study.Aesthetic plastic surgery · 2023
   Review
6. Erector spinae plane block: inexplicable benefits in acute gastrointestinal injury.Intensive care medicine · 2023
   Article
7. Erector Spinae Plane Block as an Analgesic Intervention in Acute Rib Fractures: A Scoping Review.Local and regional anesthesia · 2023
   Article
8. Function of the sympathetic supply in the erector spinae plane block.Canadian journal of anaesthesia = Journal canadien d'anesthesie · 2021
   Article
9. Year in Review 2020: Noteworthy Literature in Cardiothoracic Anesthesiology.Seminars in cardiothoracic and vascular anesthesia · 2021
   Article
10. Erector spinae plane block in spine surgeries: Single-level versus bi-level, single-shot versus continuous catheter technique.Saudi journal of anaesthesia
    Review

Corrections and comments

• Comment on
  Mechanisms of action of the erector spinae plane (ESP) block: a narrative review.2021

Authors and funding

1 author.

Funding

No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.

Abstract

PubMed holds no abstract for this paper.

Indexed as