To investigate the application value of transverse abdominal planar (TAP) in the Da Vinci robot-assisted hepatectomy of hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC).

40 patients with HCC undergoing Da Vinci robot-assisted hepatectomy in Sun Yat-sen Memorial Hospital of Sun Yat-sen University from October 2015 to October 2017 were enrolled in this prospective study. Among them, 32 cases were males and 8 females, aged 36-62 years with a median age of 46 years. The informed consents of all patients were obtained and the local ethical committee approval was received. The patients were assigned into TAP group (n=20) and control group (n=20) according to the random number table method. In TAP group, patients underwent ultrasound-guided bilateral TAP after general anesthesia, whereas patients in control group didn't ungergo TAP. Patient-controlled intravenous analgesia was applied in patients in both groups. The postoperative recovery of patients was observed. The indexes of recovery and the visual analog scale (VAS) between two groups were compared using t test.

In TAP group, the postoperative reviving time, off-bed time for the first time, exhaust time for the first time and length of hospital stay were (18.9±2.8) min, (25±6) h, (32±8) h and (4.1±1.8) d, significantly shorter than (28.3±3.8) min, (39±7) h, (45±10) h and (8.9±4.2) d in control group (t=-15.680, -16.660, -16.890, -2.321; P<0.05). In TAP group, the number of patients receiving additional analgesic drugs was 6.0±2.8, significantly less than 16.0±7.8 in control group (t=-3.449, P<0.05). At postoperative 2, 4, 6, 12 and 24 h, the VAS in TAP group were 3.7±0.9, 2.8±1.0, 1.6±0.9, 1.0±0.6 and 0.9±0.4, significantly lower than 4.1±0.6, 3.7±0.8, 3.2±0.9, 1.5±0.8 and 1.2±0.4 in control group (t=-2.312, -7.660, -11.520, -13.010, -8.286; P<0.05).

TAP applied in Da Vinci robot-assisted hepatectomy can help HCC patients to revive early, accelerate off-bed activity, shorten the postoperative length of hospital stay, mitigate postoperative pain and promote postoperative recovery.