Does ultrasound-guided bilateral superficial cervical plexus block improve the quality of recovery after thyroidectomy?

Thyroidectomy is widely performed as ambulatory surgery, however, its problems of postoperative pain and nausea and vomiting still exist under the condition of using analgesics and antemetic drugs. These complications delay patients’recovery and discharge, and increase the overall health care costs. Therefore, we encourage various therapies that combined complementary and alternative analgesic techniques with drug, such as nerve block and psychotherapy. Plenty of evidences shows that ultrasound-guided bilateral superficial cervical plexus block has no intra-operative complication or systemic toxicity of ropivacaine, adverse effects were of short duration and did not affect surgery. These features show that ultrasound-guided bilateral superficial cervical plexus block is feasible and provides similar results to other regional techniques during thyroidectomy. but from the perspective of patients, ultrasound-guided bilateral superficial cervical plexus block for the recovery quality after thyroidectomy has not been fully embodied. Therefore, we designed a prospective, randomized study to verify the assumption that preoperative ultrasound-guided bilateral superficial cervical plexus block can improve the quality of recovery after thyroidectomy.