Biomaterial Database

Ultrasound-guided regional anesthesia for peripheral nerve blocks: an evidence-based outcome review. 2011

John G Antonakakis, and Paul H Ting, and Brian Sites

Department of Anesthesiology, Portsmouth Regional Hospital, 333 Borthwick Avenue, Portsmouth, NH 03801, USA. jantonakakis@gmail.com

Ultrasound-guided regional anesthesia (UGRA) has increased in popularity over the past 5 years. This interest is reflected by the plethora of publications devoted to technique development, as well as randomized and controlled trials. Despite the excitement around ultrasonography, skeptics argue that there is a lack of evidence-based medicine to support the unequivocal adoption of UGRA as a "standard of care." This article summarizes and critically assesses current data comparing traditional approaches to localizing nerves with those that use ultrasound guidance. In addition, the potential benefits of UGRA that go beyond current information available from comparative studies are explored.

UI	MeSH Term	Description	Entries
D009407	Nerve Block	Interruption of NEURAL CONDUCTION in peripheral nerves or nerve trunks by the injection of a local anesthetic agent (e.g., LIDOCAINE; PHENOL; BOTULINUM TOXINS) to manage or treat pain.	Chemical Neurolysis,Chemodenervation,Nerve Blockade,Block, Nerve,Blockade, Nerve,Blockades, Nerve,Blocks, Nerve,Chemical Neurolyses,Chemodenervations,Nerve Blockades,Nerve Blocks,Neurolyses, Chemical,Neurolysis, Chemical
D010525	Peripheral Nerves	The nerves outside of the brain and spinal cord, including the autonomic, cranial, and spinal nerves. Peripheral nerves contain non-neuronal cells and connective tissue as well as axons. The connective tissue layers include, from the outside to the inside, the epineurium, the perineurium, and the endoneurium.	Endoneurium,Epineurium,Perineurium,Endoneuriums,Epineuriums,Nerve, Peripheral,Nerves, Peripheral,Perineuriums,Peripheral Nerve
D006801	Humans	Members of the species Homo sapiens.	Homo sapiens,Man (Taxonomy),Human,Man, Modern,Modern Man
D000776	Anesthesiology	A specialty concerned with the study of anesthetics and anesthesia.
D016032	Randomized Controlled Trials as Topic	Works about clinical trials that involve at least one test treatment and one control treatment, concurrent enrollment and follow-up of the test- and control-treated groups, and in which the treatments to be administered are selected by a random process, such as the use of a random-numbers table.	Clinical Trials, Randomized,Controlled Clinical Trials, Randomized,Trials, Randomized Clinical
D018084	Ultrasonography, Interventional	The use of ultrasound to guide minimally invasive surgical procedures such as needle ASPIRATION BIOPSY; DRAINAGE; etc. Its widest application is intravascular ultrasound imaging but it is useful also in urology and intra-abdominal conditions.	Ultrasonography, Intravascular,Ultrasound, Interventional,Interventional Ultrasonography,Intravascular Ultrasonography,Interventional Ultrasound
D019317	Evidence-Based Medicine	An approach of practicing medicine with the goal to improve and evaluate patient care. It requires the judicious integration of best research evidence with the patient's values to make decisions about medical care. This method is to help physicians make proper diagnosis, devise best testing plan, choose best treatment and methods of disease prevention, as well as develop guidelines for large groups of patients with the same disease. (from JAMA 296 (9), 2006)	Medicine, Evidence-Based,Evidence Based Medicine,Medicine, Evidence Based