Combined femoral and sciatic nerve blockade for lower limb surgeries: ultrasound guidance versus nerve stimulation

Hassan, Samar Abd El-Hamid; Shawky, Khaled; Attia, Zainab; Amin, Nahla; Sawan, Zainab; Higab, Ahmad

doi:10.21608/zumj.2019.7252.1036

Combined femoral and sciatic nerve blockade for lower limb surgeries: ultrasound guidance versus nerve stimulation

Document Type : Original Article

Authors

¹ Anaesthesia and surgical intensive care, Faculty of Medicine, Zagazig University

² Radiology Department, Facuilty of Medicine, Zagazig University

³ Anesthesia department, Faculty of Medicine, Zagazig University

10.21608/zumj.2019.7252.1036

Abstract

Objective: To compare between nerve stimulator guided and ultrasound guided femoral-sciatic nerve block, to find out the method of best outcome and least side effects.
Patients & Methods: The study was performed in Zagazig University Hospital (ZUH), eighty ASA classes I and II adult cooperative patients of both sexes were scheduled for below or at knee level surgery. They anesthetized under femoral-sciatic nerve block. They were randomly allocated into two equal groups, ultrasound guided nerve block (US) group and nerve stimulator group (NS) group (40 patients each) according to the used method for nerve localization.
Results: It was found that there was a statistically significant difference between US and NS groups (P=0.001) regarding the "performance": technique time, the number of attempts of skin puncture, the onset time for complete motor and sensory block, incidence of hematoma formation and the incidence of painful paresthesia during nerve localization..
Conclusion: The ultrasound guided lower limb block was superior to nerve stimulator guided for localization of femoral and sciatic nerve with less performance time, accurate needle placement, less failure rate and less incidence of complications.

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