Articles: nerve-block.
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Recently there has been a considerable increase in interest in regional anesthesia and neural blockade. Many traditional nerve block techniques have been significantly modified to better fit the realm of both inpatient and outpatient surgery. ⋯ A significant effort has also been invested in studying and improving the safety of various techniques. These developments, coupled with an increased emphasis on teaching of regional blocks by organized anesthesia societies are likely to result in a wider use of these techniques in years to come.
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Acta Anaesthesiol Scand · Oct 2000
Case ReportsHemidiaphragmatic paresis after interscalene supplementation of insufficient axillary block with 3 mL of 2% mepivacaine.
Breathing difficulty, agitation, and confusion developed in a 55-year-old male, ASA classification group III with a non-small-cell lung cancer 10 min after interscalene supplementation of insufficient axillary block with 3 mL of 2% mepivacaine with adrenaline 5 microg mL(-1). After administration of thiopentone and suxamethonium the patient's trachea was intubated and the lungs were ventilated with oxygen-enriched air. ⋯ Postoperatively, the patient was somnolent and hypercapnic, but maintained satisfactory oxygenation while breathing spontaneously and was extubated. Both the temporal relationship of events and the regression of all symptoms within three hours suggest that 3 mL of mepivacaine with adrenaline injected into the interscalene space blocked the phrenic nerve and compromised diaphragmatic function, which precipitated the respiratory failure.
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Pharmaceutical research · Oct 2000
Sciatic nerve blockade with lipid-protein-sugar particles containing bupivacaine.
To assess the efficacy of lipid-protein-sugar particles (LPSPs) in providing prolonged duration local anesthesia by percutaneous injection. ⋯ LPSPs provide sensory blockade durations comparable to those from PLGA microspheres, with a smaller amount of drug loading. Motor blockade is shorter with LPSPs than with PLGA microspheres. LPSPs appear to be suitable for extended nerve blockade. Given their size and low density, they may be useful for topical anesthesia of the airway.
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Combining regional and general anaesthesia can have many advantages, particularly in patients undergoing major thoracic, abdominal or orthopaedic surgery. The use of regional anaesthetic techniques in anaesthetized children is an accepted standard of care, because needle and procedure phobias are very common and can result in severe anxiety, an inability to cooperate and sudden unpredictable movement. Epidural local anaesthetics have the potential of attenuating sympathetic hyperactivity, maintaining bowel peristalsis, sparing the use of opioids, and facilitating postoperative feeding and out-of-bed activity. ⋯ The present review focuses on the use of a combination of regional and general anaesthesia for a variety of surgical procedures. It also compares the two anaesthetic techniques in elderly patients. The review is based on studies published during the past year.
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Anesthesia and analgesia · Oct 2000
Randomized Controlled Trial Comparative Study Clinical TrialA comparison of superficial versus combined (superficial and deep) cervical plexus block for carotid endarterectomy: a prospective, randomized study.
Carotid endarterectomy may be performed by using cervical plexus blockade with local anesthetic supplementation by the surgeon during surgery. Most practitioners use either a superficial cervical plexus block or a combined (superficial and deep) block, but it is unclear which offers the best operative conditions or greatest patient satisfaction. We compared the two techniques in patients undergoing carotid endarterectomy. ⋯ The median time to first analgesia in the superficial block group was 150 min, more than in the combined block group (median time 45 min) but this difference, although large, was not statistically significant (Mann-Whitney U-test). We found no significant differences between the anesthetic techniques studied. All patients reported satisfaction with the techniques.