1 Title No benefit of ultrasound guided transversus abdominis plane (TAP) blocks over local anaesthetic wound infiltration in elective laparoscopic colonic surgery; results of a double blind randomised controlled trial. Short title TAP block for laparoscopic colonic resection A Rashid 1*, 2 , KJ Gorissen 3 , F Ris 4, 5* , MP Gosselink 3 , JR Shorthouse 2, 5* , AD Smith 6 , JJ Pandit 2 , I Lindsey 3 , N Crabtree 2 1. Department of Anaesthetics, Bedford Hospital NHS Trust, Bedford, UK 2. Nuffield department of Anaesthetics, Oxford University Hospitals NHS trust, Oxford, UK 3. Department of Colorectal Surgery, Oxford University Hospitals NHS trust, Oxford, UK 4. Service of Visceral Surgery, Geneva University Hospitals, Geneva, Switzerland. 5. Department of Anaesthetics, Poole Hospital NHS Foundation Trust, Poole, Dorset, UK 6. Nuffield Department of Population Health, University of Oxford, Oxford, UK Corresponding Author: Dr N Crabtree, Email: nicholas.crabtree@ouh.nhs.uk *: Current institutions Keywords: TAP block, local anaesthetics, wound infiltration, laparoscopic colonic surgery, enhanced recovery. Word count: Abstract: 248, Main text: 2830, Figures: 1, Tables: 4