Levobupivacaine combined with dexamethasone for serratus plane block can provide long-lasting analgesia in multiple rib fractures

Serratus plane block (SPB) is a technique of regional anesthesia that has recently been proposed to treat pain in rib fractures. In this context, SPB is currently performed using a variety of local anesthetics at different concentrations and dilutions, reporting a duration of pain control up to 12 hours following the procedure. To the best of our knowledge, the addition of dexamethasone to the local anesthetic for this specific regional block has never been documented. Here we report three patients that were treated for multiple rib fractures with SPB, which included combined dexamethasone and levobupivacaine. Interestingly, the obtained pain control lasted between 23 to 45 hours following the block, thus helping to minimize the opioid use in our patients.