Paliatívna medicína a liečba bolesti 2/2009

Interscalene block – with or without ultrasound

This article describes the technique of interscalene nerve block performed under ultrasound guidance and summarizes results of 327 arthroscopic shoulder operations carried out in our workplace in 2008. In order to ensure that our patients were comfortable within the postoperative analgesia and early rehabilitation, we performed interscalene block of brachial plexus prior to surgery on every patient. In the case of 185 patients we identified the plexus with the help of a neurostimulator. For the other group of 142 patients, in order to identify the brachial plexus we used ultrasound. The aim of the audit was to analyse time of the block, the success rate of blocks (motoric and sensoric block), BMI, the age and sex of patients.

Keywords: interscalene, block, plexus, ultrasound, neurostimulator.