Received: August 20, 2008. Accepted: November 19, 2008. Corresponding author: Chun Woo Yang, M.D., Department of Anesthesiology and Pain Medicine, College of Medicine, Konyang University, Gasuwon-dong, Seo-gu, Daejeon 302-718, Korea. Tel: 82-42-600-9319, Fax: 82-42-545-2132, E-mail: [email protected] Copyright c Korean Society of Anesthesiologists, 2009 Comparison of vertical infraclavicular br...

Variations of the brachial plexus occurs in the formation of trunks, divisions, and cords; in the origin and/or combination of branches; and in the relationship to the axillary artery and scalene muscles, however the make up of the terminal branches (components of the nerves) is unchanged [1]. The three cords of brachial plexus enter the axilla and are arranged according to their names around t...

The use of regional anaesthesia techniques in the presence of degenerative neurological disease is a relative contraindication. The subsequent reticence of anaesthesiologists is perhaps reflected in the absence of any published cases of a CharcotMarie-Tooth (CMT) patient that received a peripheral nerve blockade for surgery. We report a CMT patient, who presented with a supracondylar distal hum...

BACKGROUND With ultrasound guidance, the success rate of brachial plexus block (BPB) is 95-100% and the anesthetic time has become a more important factor than before. Many investigators have compared ultrasound guidance with the nerve stimulation technique, but there are few studies comparing different approaches via the same ultrasound guidance. We compared the axillary BPB with the infraclav...

Neurogenic thoracic outlet syndrome is caused by a neurologic compression of the brachial plexus before it reaches the arm. Three anatomic areas are common locations for such an entrapment because of their congenital and/or acquired tightness: the interscalene triangle, the costoclavicular space, and the retropectoralis minor space. Because the compression level usually remains unknown, the tre...

AIM The aim of this study is to compare the results of nerve grafting vs. common infraclavicular intraplexal nerve transfer in elbow flexion restoration. MATERIAL AND METHODS The study included 39 patients with upper brachial plexus palsy who were operated using common intraplexal nerve transfer (Oberlin procedure) and the thoracodorsal and medial pectoral nerve transfer to the musculocutaneo...

Horner's syndrome results from paralysis of the ipsilateral sympathetic cervical chain (stellate ganglion) caused by surgery, drugs (mainly high concentrations of local anesthetics), local compression (hematoma or tumor), or inadequate perioperative positioning of the patient. It occurs in 100% of the patients with an interscalene block of the brachial plexus and can also occur in patients with...

We reviewed 28 patients with brachial plexus lesions caused by shoulder dislocation. Contrary to most other reports, we found that the neurological lesions involved the infraclavicular and the supraclavicular brachial plexus. With supraclavicular lesions the involvement was always of the suprascapular nerve, and this always recovered spontaneously. Isolated axillary nerve lesions had the poores...

We read with great interest the original research published by Anatoli Stav et al.1 in which they compared supraclavicular (SCL), infraclavicular (ICL), and axillary (AX) approaches to the brachial plexus with ultrasonography for upper limb surgeries.1 They concluded that all approaches can be used to provide adequate anesthesia for upper limb surgeries below the shoulder. Nevertheless, they al...

Peripheral nerve blocks are common and effective means for anesthesia for limb surgery. The evaluation of the success of a peripheral blockade is based on the loss of sensation, with no objective means of detecting a successful block. The autonomic innervation to the upper extremity, which controls both the vascular tone and the activity of sweat glands, is supplied by nerve fibers accompanying...