Articles: nerve-block.
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Randomized Controlled Trial Clinical Trial
Alkalinisation of bupivacaine for sciatic nerve blockade.
This double-blind study investigates the effect of pH adjustment of bupivacaine 0.5% with adrenaline 1:200,000 on block latency, duration of analgesia and systemic absorption of local anaesthetic after sciatic nerve blockade. Twenty-four adult patients were randomly allocated into one of two groups: Group A (n = 12) received bupivacaine with adrenaline 1:200,000 (pH 3.9) 2 mg/kg, while Group B (n = 12) received alkalinised bupivacaine with adrenaline 1:200,000 (pH 6.4) 2 mg/kg. ⋯ There was no significant difference in plasma bupivacaine levels between the two groups. The results indicate that alkalinisation of bupivacaine reduces time to onset and prolongs the duration of useful analgesia when used for sciatic nerve blockade, without significantly increasing systemic absorption.
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A case is described in which the patient developed hoarseness following a left brachial plexus block, using the supraclavicular approach. Possible paralysis of the left recurrent laryngeal nerve is discussed.
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This review focuses on available anesthetic techniques for cancer patients, the indications, and appropriate agents for these potent tools in a stepwise approach to cancer pain. Anesthetic procedures are desirable when they will not compromise bodily functions important to the patient, and when tumor-directed therapy and noninvasive or less-invasive, low-risk approaches (primarily pharmacologic tailoring of analgesic drugs) fail to control pain. Nondestructive techniques include the epidural/intrathecal use of opioids via an implanted catheter, and local anesthetic blocks of nerves and sympathetic ganglia. ⋯ Destructive anesthetic procedures comprise injections of neurolytic agents (most commonly phenol or alcohol), and insertion of freezing probes, into nerves and ganglia. The types of nerve blocks performed, their complications, and success rates, and limitations of commonly used neurolytic agents as well as their proper applications, are described. The importance of proper patient selection and knowledge of the pathophysiology of the pain being treated is stressed, as is the appropriate timing of anesthetic procedures in the course of the disease.
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Anesthesia and analgesia · Jun 1989
Subclavian perivascular block: influence of location of paresthesia.
Subclavian perivascular block of the brachial plexus was used in 156 adult patients undergoing orthopedic hand and forearm surgery. The location of the elicited paresthesia prior to deposition of 30 ml of a solution containing 1% mepivacaine, 0.2% tetracaine and 1.200,000 epinephrine was recorded. Twenty minutes later the quality of the block in the distribution of the superior, middle and inferior trunks of the brachial plexus was evaluated. ⋯ A superior trunk paresthesia was the paresthesia most often elicited. It resulted in a significantly lower incidence of inferior trunk anesthesia than did a middle or inferior trunk paresthesia. Complications included arterial puncture (25.6%), Horner's syndrome (64.1%), and recurrent laryngeal nerve block (1.3%), with no instances of symptomatic phrenic block or symptomatic pneumothorax.
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Pharmacokinetics and blood concentrations of bupivacaine were studied after intercostal nerve blocks were performed intraoperatively using 1.5 mg.kg-1 in 11 neonates (age 0-28 days) and 11 infants between age 1 and 6 months. The study aimed to provide pharmacokinetic data that are limited in these age groups, and to identify any adverse effects of intercostal nerve block in infancy. Arterial blood samples were taken at 0, 5, 10, 15, 20, 30, 60, 120, 240, and 360 min. ⋯ Patients were further divided into those with acyanotic and cyanotic disease. Cyanotic infants were significantly heavier than acyanotic infants (P less than 0.05), but no other differences were demonstrated. No adverse effects resulting from the technique were identified.(ABSTRACT TRUNCATED AT 250 WORDS)