What benefits does ultrasound-guided axillary block for brachial plexus anaesthesia offer over the conventional blind approach in hand surgery?

Publication

What benefits does ultrasound-guided axillary block for brachial plexus anaesthesia offer over the conventional blind approach in hand surgery?

Journal Paper/Review - Jul 12, 2011

Strub B, Sonderegger J, Von Campe A, Grünert J, Osterwalder Joseph

Citation

Strub B, Sonderegger J, Von Campe A, Grünert J, Osterwalder J. What benefits does ultrasound-guided axillary block for brachial plexus anaesthesia offer over the conventional blind approach in hand surgery?. J Hand Surg Eur Vol 2011; 36:778-786.

Type

Journal Paper/Review (English)

Journal

J Hand Surg Eur Vol 2011; 36

Publication Date

Jul 12, 2011

Issn Electronic

1532-2211

Pages

778-786

Brief description/objective

Axillary block for brachial plexus anaesthesia is a popular anaesthetic technique for hand surgery with different approaches. We investigated the efficacy of the blind and ultrasound-guided approaches administered by a hand surgeon. A total of 141 patients were prospectively randomized to Group A without and Group B with ultrasound guidance. The principal variables evaluated were number of failures, duration of surgery, time to onset of anaesthesia, volume of anaesthetic injected, and complications. The success rate and the mean time to onset of anaesthesia were significantly better under ultrasound guidance. The duration of surgery and the rate of complications did not differ. Ultrasound-guided plexus anaesthesia is markedly more effective than the blind technique when performed by a hand surgeon.