Ultrasound in medicine & biology
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Ultrasound Med Biol · Apr 2012
Randomized Controlled Trial Comparative StudyEchogenic regional anaesthesia needles: a comparison study in Thiel cadavers.
Ultrasound guidance is now the standard procedure for regional nerve block in anesthesiology. However, ultrasonic visualisation of needle manipulation and guidance within tissues remains a problem. Two new echogenic needles (Pajunk and Braun) have been introduced to anesthesiology clinical practice but evaluation has been restricted to preserved animal tissue. ⋯ The Pajunk echogenic needle was more visible than the Braun standard needle in-plane (p = 0.04), and the Braun standard and Braun echogenic needles out-of-plane (p = 0.02). Independent predictors of visibility using logistic regression were needle (p < 0.001) and plane of insertion (p = 0.08), receiver operator characteristic (ROC) area under the curve 0.90. In conclusion, the Pajunk echogenic needle offers the best visibility for ultrasound-guided regional anesthesia.