Articles: nerve-block.
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Lumbar nerve root blocks and epidural steroid injections are frequently employed in the management of degenerative conditions of the lumbar spine, but relatively few papers have been published that address the complications associated with these interventions. Serious complications include epidural abscess, arachnoiditis, epidural hematoma, cerebrospinal fluid fistula and hypersensitivity reaction to injectate. Although transient paraparesis has been described after inadvertent intrathecal injection, an immediate and lasting deficit has not been previously described as sequelae of a nerve root block. ⋯ We present the cases of three patients who had lasting paraplegia or paraparesis after the performance of a nerve root block. We propose that the mechanism for this rare but devastating complication is the concurrence of two uncommon circumstances, the presence of an unusually low origin of the artery of Adamkiewicz and an undetected intraarterial penetration of the procedure needle.
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To determine the reason for differing shunt rates based on electroencephalographic (EEG) and neurologic changes during general and regional anesthetic, respectively, we compared simultaneous EEG tracings and neurologic status in 135 patients undergoing carotid endarterectomy (CEA) under cervical block over a 30-month period. The decision to shunt in these patients was made on the basis of neurologic changes only irrespective of EEG findings. This group was then compared to the 288 patients undergoing CEA under general anesthetic with EEG monitoring over the same period. ⋯ The rates of ipsilateral hemispheric changes were similar, but no awake patient manifested global EEG changes with clamping while 3.5% of patients under general anesthesia did (p < 0.04). Global, but not hemispheric, changes were correlated with systolic blood pressure variability during clamping. This implies that global EEG changes in anesthetized patients may be the result of the anesthetic technique itself, and that cervical block may in fact be cerebroprotective.
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Neurolytic blockade is one of the therapeutic possibilities to treat spasticity of various muscles. In patients with spasticity of the adductor thigh muscles, a percutaneous approach to the obturator nerve is often difficult. We describe a new approach to the obturator nerve and we examine its feasibility. ⋯ No complications occurred. The combined approach of the obturator nerve represents a new technique which proved to be accurate, fast, simple, highly successful and reproducible. Obturator neurolysis was confirmed as an efficient and cost-effective technique to reduce adductor muscle spasm and related pain and to improve gait and hygienic care in patients with neurological sequelae of stroke, head trauma or any lesion of the motor neurone.
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Cochrane Db Syst Rev · Jan 2002
ReviewNerve blocks (subcostal, lateral cutaneous, femoral, triple, psoas) for hip fractures.
Various nerve blocks using local anaesthetic agents have been used in order to reduce pain after hip fracture. ⋯ Because of the small number of patients included in this review and the differing type of nerve blocks and timing of insertion, it is not possible to determine if nerve blocks confer any significant benefit when compared with other analgesic methods as part of the treatment of a hip fracture. Further trials with larger numbers of patients and full reporting of clinical outcomes would be justified.
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Randomized Controlled Trial Comparative Study Clinical Trial
Deep topical fornix nerve block versus peribulbar block in one-step adjustable-suture horizontal strabismus surgery.
We compared the efficacy of deep topical fornix nerve block anaesthesia (DTFNBA), which does not paralyse the extraocular muscles, with peribulbar block in patients undergoing one-step adjustable-suture horizontal strabismus surgery. Patients with a vertical, oblique squint were excluded from the study. ⋯ DTFNBA is a useful technique for intraoperative adjustable-suture strabismus surgery. It does not alter muscle tone, thus allowing the surgeon to adjust the muscle sutures intraoperatively, and reducing the incidence of under- or over-correction of the squint in the immediate postoperative period.