• Philipp Gerner, Veena Graff, Melody Herman, and Alexander B Stone.
• Department of Anesthesia, Critical Care and Pain Medicine, Massachusetts General Hospital, Boston, Massachusetts, USA pgerner1@mgh.harvard.edu.
• Reg Anesth Pain Med. 2024 Dec 2; 49 (12): 913917913-917.

AbstractUltrasound guidance has become ubiquitous with regional anesthesia, but little consistency exists on necessary ultrasound probe hygiene and sterility barriers. Fear of possible infection has led to calls for universal use of sterile ultrasound probe covers. Available data seems to suggest that single-shot peripheral nerve blocks have a low infectious risk. The widespread use of single-use disposable probe covers would carry an associated cost, increased environmental impact, and little evidence to suggest that they are effective at preventing infection if proper technique is used. While various parties have labeled single-shot nerve blocks as a sterile procedure, in practice, it is a clean technique. In this article, we argue that mandating the use of probe covers is unnecessary and that it should be left to the anesthesiologist to determine what type of anti-infection equipment is necessary for single-shot nerve blocks based on their practice situation and expertize.© American Society of Regional Anesthesia & Pain Medicine 2024. No commercial re-use. See rights and permissions. Published by BMJ.

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