Intercostal nerve block with flank incision.

We studied the postoperative course of 20 consecutive patients with T10 to 12 flank incisions, half of whom had intraoperative bupivacaine intercostal nerve blocks. The nerve block patients required less pain medication (p less than 0.001), ambulated 3 days earlier (p less than 0.001) and took a regular diet 2 days sooner (p less than 0.01) than the control patients.