Liu R, et al. - Among patients undergoing radical gastrectomy under general anesthesia, researchers determined the impact of subcostal transversus abdominis plane (TAP) block on the perioperative neuroendocrine stress response, postoperative analgesia and postoperative recovery. Random allocation of the patients to receive general anesthesia (control group), or general anesthesia combined with TAP block (40 mL of 0.375% ropivacaine) (TAP group), was done. Analysis of data from 61 of 65 recruited patients was performed. Findings revealed blunted perioperative stress response as a result of administering subcostal TAP block to patients. In addition, efficient analgesia with good hemodynamic stability and minimal adverse effects was offered by subcostal TAP block.