Regional anesthesia and pain medicine
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Reg Anesth Pain Med · Sep 2021
Randomized Controlled TrialIs preoperative genicular radiofrequency ablation effective for reducing pain following total knee arthroplasty? A pilot randomized clinical trial.
Although total knee arthroplasty (TKA) is an effective treatment for severe knee osteoarthritis (OA), a subset of patients experience significant postoperative pain and dissatisfaction. Several clinical trials support the analgesic benefits of genicular nerve radiofrequency ablation (GN-RFA) for non-operative knee OA, but only one prior trial has examined the effects of this intervention given preoperatively on postoperative outcomes following TKA, showing no analgesic benefit of cooled GN-RFA. The current study evaluated whether conventional thermal GN-RFA performed preoperatively resulted in significant improvements in pain and function following TKA. ⋯ Conventional GN-RFA of the superior lateral, superior medial, and inferior medial genicular nerves when performed prior to TKA did not provide clinically significant pain relief or improvement in functional status at 2 or 6 weeks postoperatively.
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Reg Anesth Pain Med · Sep 2021
Randomized Controlled TrialSerratus anterior plane versus paravertebral nerve blocks for postoperative analgesia after non-mastectomy breast surgery: a randomized controlled non-inferiority trial.
Paravertebral and serratus plane blocks are both used to treat pain following breast surgery. However, it remains unknown if the newer serratus block provides comparable analgesia to the decades-old paravertebral technique. ⋯ Serratus blocks provided inferior analgesia compared with paravertebral blocks. Without a dramatic improvement in safety profile for serratus blocks, it appears that paravertebral blocks are superior to serratus blocks for postoperative analgesia after non-mastectomy breast surgery.
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Reg Anesth Pain Med · Sep 2021
Randomized Controlled TrialOne-year results from a randomized comparative trial of targeted steroid injection via epidural catheter versus standard transforaminal epidural injection for the treatment of unilateral cervical radicular pain.
The objective of this study was to evaluate the long-term effectiveness of catheter-directed cervical interlaminar epidural steroid injection with triamcinolone compared with cervical transforaminal steroid injection with dexamethasone for the treatment of refractory unilateral radicular pain. ⋯ Both cervical catheter-directed interlaminar epidural injection and cervical transforaminal steroid injection were effective in reducing pain and disability in the majority of participants with refractory unilateral cervical radiculopathy for up to 1 year.
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Reg Anesth Pain Med · Aug 2021
Randomized Controlled TrialObturator nerve block does not provide analgesic benefits in total hip arthroplasty under multimodal analgesic regimen: a randomized controlled trial.
Although regional analgesia is considered an important component of optimal pain management, use of peripheral nerve blocks for total hip arthroplasty remains controversial. Since the obturator nerve innervates the anteromedial part of the joint capsule, we hypothesized that an obturator nerve block would decrease the opioid consumption after total hip arthroplasty. ⋯ Obturator nerve block did not improve postoperative opioid consumption after total hip arthroplasty performed under general anesthesia with a multimodal analgesic regimen.
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Reg Anesth Pain Med · Aug 2021
Randomized Controlled TrialComparison of Touhy and Quincke needles on intravascular injection rate in lumbar transforaminal epidural block: a randomized prospective trial.
Transforaminal epidural steroid injection is widely used in clinical practice to effectively deliver injectate into the ventral epidural space. Complications associated with intravascular injection such as spinal cord infarction and paraplegia can occur during transforaminal epidural steroid injection. To improve the safety of the procedure, avoidance of intravascular injection is crucial, for which appropriate needle selection is important. The primary aim of this study was to compare intravascular injection rates during transforaminal epidural steroid injection between commonly used Quincke and Tuohy needles. ⋯ In conclusion, Tuohy needles had a lower intravascular injection rate and higher medial and ventral epidural spreading rates than Quincke needles.