• Adel M Badawy and Eman A Eshra.
• Department of Veterinary Surgery, Anesthesiology and Radiology, Faculty of Veterinary Medicine, Benha University, Toukh, Egypt. Electronic address: adelbadawybadawy@yahoo.com.
• Vet Anaesth Analg. 2018 Mar 1; 45 (2): 175-182.

ObjectiveDescription of an ultrasound (US)-guided technique for retrobulbar nerve blockade in dromedary (Camelus dromedarius) cadavers.Study DesignProspective experimental cadaveric study that was carried out in three phases: phase I: anatomical dissection and development of US-guided technique; phase II: methylene blue (MB) injection; phase III: contrast medium (CM), US-guided injections with computed tomography (CT) control.AnimalsA total of 36 orbits from 18 heads were obtained from 18 dromedary cadavers.MethodsPhase I: anatomical dissections were carried out bilaterally, using two heads to determine needle site placement. Phase II: a US-guided, lateral, in-plane approach using one of three volumes of MB (3, 6, or 9 mL) was evaluated in six heads (four orbits per volume tested) to establish the ideal injection volume. Injections of MB that strongly stained all retrobulbar nerves were considered successful, whereas insufficient MB volumes resulted in weak or no nerve staining. Phase III: US-guided retrobulbar injection with CM was carried out using 20 orbits. Computed tomography was performed after each injection trial to determine the accuracy of needle placement and CM dispersal. An injection was judged to be successful when the CT images revealed that the needle was located within the retractor bulbi muscle cone and the CM reached the target nerves at the orbitorotundum and the optic foramina.ResultsOnly injection of 9 mL of MB stained the target nerves sufficiently, whereas there was no or only weak staining with 3 and 6 mL, respectively. Therefore, 9 mL of CM was used for the US-guided injections in phase III. Subsequent CT scans revealed satisfying CM distribution within the ocular muscle cone in 18 of 20 cases (90% success rate).Conclusions And Clinical RelevanceUS-guided retrobulbar injection in dromedary cadavers is feasible. Further research is required to assess its practicality and usefulness in vivo.Copyright © 2017 Association of Veterinary Anaesthetists and American College of Veterinary Anesthesia and Analgesia. Published by Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

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