Breast cancer is a worldwide problem, accounting for 10.4% of all cancer incidence among women, making it the second most common type of non-skin cancer (after lung cancer) and the fifth most common cause of cancer death. The ‘surveillance, epidemiology and end results’ (SEER) program reported that in 2006, 60% of diagnosed breast cancers are early stage. The management of early-stage breast cancer includes  breast-conserving surgery (such as lumpectomy), a mastectomy (also called a modified radical mastectomy), radiation therapy and systemic treatments.

Despite the advantages of BCT, its utilization remains a problem due to convenience, access, cost and other logistical issues. In APBI, radiation can be delivered in a significantly shortened period, thereby potentially making the BCT option available and attractive to more women. APBI can be done under either local anaesthesia, general anaesthesia or regional blocks with sedation. Breast cancer surgery, such as mastectomy or lumpectomy with or without axillary lymph node dissection/biopsy, has frequently been performed using general anesthesia (GA). However, GA is associated with a high incidence of postoperative nausea and vomiting (PONV) that not only reduces patient satisfaction but also delays patient recovery after breast surgery. Recently, breast cancer surgery has often been performed under regional anesthesia techniques like Paravertebral block (PVB), erector spinae block etc.   A recent metaanalysis demonstrated that thoracic PVB has several advantages, such as better postoperative pain control, lower incidence of PONV, shorter recovery time and higher patient satisfaction, compared with GA alone in breast surgery.  To our knowledge, however, there are no reports of studies comparing GA with Erector Spinae block for Accelerated Partial Breast Irradiation. The first purpose of this study is to   compare these two anesthesia techniques in terms of post-anesthesia recovery time. Our  secondary aim was to compare perioperative hemodynamics because decreasing blood pressure is often observed during GA. We hypothesized that performing the procedure under  Erector Spinae block could facilitate postoperative recovery and avoid hypotension during anesthesia.