Houben AM, et al. - In this randomised, placebo-controlled, double-blind investigation including 60 patients scheduled for laparoscopic cholecystectomy, researchers determined if an attenuated opioid consumption and pain following laparoscopic cholecystectomy can be achieved using subcostal transversus abdominis plane (TAP) block in patients provided with multimodal analgesia. Following anaesthesia induction, they assigned the participants to 2 groups: ultrasound-guided bilateral subcostal TAP block with 20 ml of levobupivacaine 0.375% and epinephrine 5 μg ml⁻¹ or 0.9% saline with epinephrine 5 μg ml⁻¹. They found that after laparoscopic cholecystectomy, the pain relief achieved with multimodal analgesia was not further improved by subcostal TAP block, though it provided a small decrease in intra-operative sevoflurane needs.