Anesthesia and analgesia
-
Anesthesia and analgesia · May 2012
Randomized Controlled TrialUltrasound-guided popliteal sciatic block with a single injection at the sciatic division results in faster block onset than the classical nerve stimulator technique.
For successful, fast-onset sciatic popliteal block (SPB), either a single injection above the division of the sciatic nerve, or 2 injections to block the tibial nerve (TN) and common peroneal nerve (CPN) separately have been recommended. In this study, we compared the traditional nerve stimulator (NS)-guided SPB above the division of the sciatic nerve with the ultrasound (US)-guided block with single injection of local anesthetic (LA) between the TN and CPN at the level of their division. We hypothesized that US-SPB with a single injection between TN and CPN would result in faster block onset than a single-injection NS-SPB. ⋯ A single injection of LA in US-SPB with needle insertion at the separation of the TN and CPN results in a similar success rate at 30 minutes; however, more patients in the US-SPB group than in the NS-SPB group had complete block at 15 minutes.