• Marcos Guilherme Cunha Cruvinel, Carlos Henrique Viana de Castro, Yerkes Pereira Silva, Bruno Salomé de Morais, Flávio de Oliveira França, and Flávio Lago.
• Hospital Lifecenter. marcoscruvinel@uai.com.br
• Rev Bras Anestesiol. 2008 Sep 1;58(5):435-9, 431-5.

Background And ObjectivesArthroscopic shoulder surgeries are associated with severe postoperative pain. Among the analgesic techniques available, brachial plexus block has the best results. The objective of this study was to determine which concentration of local analgesic used in the posterior brachial plexus block provides longer postoperative analgesia.MethodsNinety patients undergoing posterior brachial plexus block were randomly divided into three groups of 30 patients each. Group 1: 20 mL of 0.5% ropivacaine; Group 2: 20 mL of 0.75% ropivacaine; and Group 3: 20 mL of 1% ropivacaine. The blockade was evaluated by assessing the thermal sensitivity using a cotton pad with alcohol and postoperative pain was evaluated according to a Verbal Numeric Scale (VNS) in the first 48 hours.ResultsPostoperative analgesia was similar in all three groups according to the parameters evaluated: mean VNS, time until the first complaint of pain, and postoperative opioid consumption.ConclusionsThis study demonstrated that posterior brachial plexus block provides effective analgesia for shoulder surgeries. Twenty milliliters of ropivacaine in the different concentrations used in this study promoted similar analgesia.

15 keywords...

hide…