Regional anesthesia and pain medicine
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Reg Anesth Pain Med · May 2024
Oral opioid prescribing to active duty US military personnel: a cross-sectional population.
While civilian opioid prescriptions have seen a dramatic decline in recent years, there are few studies investigating trends in opioid prescription in the active duty military population. We evaluated oral opioid prescribing patterns to active duty military personnel in the Military Health System (MHS) from 2017 to 2020 to determine the incidence of opioid prescriptions as well as demographic and military-specific risk factors for receiving an oral opioid prescription. ⋯ The substantial decrease in oral opioid prescriptions to active duty military personnel mirrors data published in the civilian community. The identified risk factors for receiving an opioid prescription may be potential targets for future interventions to further decrease prescribing.
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Reg Anesth Pain Med · May 2024
Reconsidering injection volume for caudal epidural block in young pediatric patients: a dynamic flow tracking experimental study.
Caudal epidural block is a commonly used analgesic technique in pediatric patients. Ultrasound could be used to increase the accuracy of the block by visual confirmation of the drug-spreading. Therefore, we aimed to estimate the cephalad spread of injection volume by caudal route using dynamic ultrasound imaging in young pediatric patients. ⋯ Local anesthetics of 0.223, 0.591, and 0.797 mL.kg-1 could provide sufficient analgesia for localized foot, knee, and hip surgeries, respectively. However, since the required volume of the local anesthetics could not be calculated linearly, the real-time dynamic flow tracking technique for the caudal epidural block is recommended in young pediatric patients.
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Reg Anesth Pain Med · May 2024
Optimal techniques of ultrasound-guided superficial and deep parasternal intercostal plane blocks: a cadaveric study.
The optimal techniques of a parasternal intercostal plane (PIP) block to cover the T2-T6 intercostal nerves have not been elucidated. This pilot cadaveric study aims to determine the optimal injection techniques that achieve a consistent dye spread over the second to sixth intercostal spaces after both ultrasound-guided superficial and deep PIP blocks. We also investigated the presence of the transversus thoracis muscle at the first to sixth intercostal spaces and its sonographic identification agreement, as well as the location of the internal thoracic artery in relation to the lateral border of the sternum. ⋯ Triple injections at the second, fourth, and fifth intercostal spaces for the superficial approach and double injections at the third and fifth intercostal spaces for the deep approach were optimal techniques of the PIP blocks.