Transversus abdominis plane block in minimally invasive colon surgery: a multicenter three-arm randomized controlled superiority and non-inferiority clinical trial.

Background And Objectives: The transversus abdominis plane (TAP) block is the most widely used abdominal field block in colorectal surgery with a postoperative enhanced recovery pathway. We aimed to determine whether the laparoscopic-assisted and ultrasound-guided TAP (US-TAP) blocks provide superior pain relief compared with placebo. We separately investigated whether the laparoscopic-assisted technique was non-inferior to the ultrasound-guided technique in providing pain relief, with a non-inferiority margin of 10 mg morphine dose equivalents.