Articles: nerve-block.
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The effective and safe use of brachial plexus block anaesthesia requires the careful practice of a simple technique, a healthy regard for its potential general and local complications, and due consideration for the patient's psychological comfort. Providing combined anaesthesia and motor block and a variable period of postoperative analgesia, it is the preferred anaesthetic for many forms of hand surgery. Further, it is a valuable alternative for most of the surgery of the upper limb in patients in whom general anaesthesia is particularly hazardous.
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During the past three quarters of a century, nerve blocks have been used with varying success as a primary treatment technique for patients with acute and chronic pain. However, practicing dolorologists soon realized that, in certain individuals, anesthetic blocking of noxious, peripheral afferent sensations did not always amelliorate pain complaints and at times even exaggerated them. The recent advent of the multidisciplinary approach to the management of pain, including neurosurgical procedures, new drugs, electrical stimulation and psychosocial intervention, has helped to clarify the indications for, limitations of, and disadvantages of the use of nerve blocks. The purpose of this article is to place nerve blocks in proper perspective and to define their role among the many methods currently available for the evaluation and control of severe pain.
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Plasma concentrations of local anaesthetic agents have been measured after 40 interscalene brachial plexus blocks in 39 patients, using lignocaine, prilocaine, bupivacaine and etidocaine. Lignocaine produced greater concentrations than prilocaine, and bupivacaine greater concentrations than etidocaine. The addition of adrenaline resulted in much lower concentrations in the case of all four agents.