Regional anesthesia and pain medicine
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Reg Anesth Pain Med · Mar 2016
Meta AnalysisUltrasound-Guided Regional Anesthesia and Patient Safety: Update of an Evidence-Based Analysis.
In 2010, the American Society of Regional Anesthesia and Pain Medicine's evidence-based medicine assessment of ultrasound (US)-guided regional anesthesia (UGRA) analyzed the effect of this nerve localization technology on patient safety. That analysis focused on 4 important regional anesthesia complications: peripheral nerve injury, local anesthetic systemic toxicity (LAST), hemidiaphragmatic paresis (HDP), and pneumothorax. In the intervening 5 years, further research has allowed us to refine our original conclusions. ⋯ Conversely, emerging evidence supports the effectiveness of US guidance for reducing LAST across its clinical presentation continuum. The predicted frequency of pneumothorax has grown smaller in tandem with increased experience with US-guided supraclavicular block. This evidence-based review summarizes both the power and the limitations of UGRA as a tool for improving patient safety.
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Reg Anesth Pain Med · Mar 2016
Review Meta AnalysisLumbar Neuraxial Ultrasound for Spinal and Epidural Anesthesia: A Systematic Review and Meta-Analysis.
This systematic review examines the evidence for preprocedural neuraxial ultrasound as an adjunct to lumbar spinal and epidural anesthesia in adults. ⋯ We know that neuraxial ultrasound is a useful complement to clinical examination when performing lumbar central neuraxial blocks. It provides anatomical information including the depth of the epidural space, the identity of a given intervertebral level, and the location of the midline and interspinous/interlaminar spaces. This information can be used to successfully guide subsequent needle insertion.Since 2010, new data from RCTs and 1 meta-analysis suggest that neuraxial ultrasound increases the success and reduces the technical difficulty of lumbar central neuraxial blocks. Findings from the meta-analysis suggest that neuraxial ultrasound reduces the risk of traumatic procedures, and thus may possibly contribute to the safety of lumbar central neuraxial blocks.