Clinical application of a described erector spinae plane block for locoregional anaesthesia technique in a cow undergoing standing laparotomy

A 5-year-old post-parturient Holstein Friesian cow, with a history of decreased milk production, decreased appetite and metritis, was referred for left abomasal displacement, which was corrected by right paralumbar omentopexy. After aseptic preparation of the right flank, an erector spinae plane block was performed under ultrasound guidance, using 20 mL of lidocaine 2% per point of injection, at the level of the thoracic vertebra 13, and the lumbar vertebrae 1 and 2 to provide flank anaesthesia. The cow reacted to the last 2 cm of the oblique skin incision, that corresponded to the most caudal portion of the flank. After local infiltration of the distal incision with 20 mL lidocaine 2%, the procedure was uneventful, with no anaesthesia-related complications and no reactions to surgical stimulation. The present report describes the clinical application of the erector spinae plane block to provide flank anaesthesia in a cow undergoing standing laparotomy.