2.2. Randomization
RECRUITMENT
Before patient recruitment, a clinical research coordinator who was not involved in this study generated and kept a random allocation sequence table with a one-to-one ratio using the R software (version 4.1.3; R Foundation for Statistical Computing, Vienna, Austria). Patients were allocated to 2 groups: the control (C) and AB groups. Owing to the nature of the AB, concealing the intervention from patients and the anesthetist performing the intervention applying the AB was not possible. However, researchers who collected the data or analyzed the records were separated and blinded.