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Papers of the Week


2020 04


Anesthesiology


132


4

Suture-method versus Through-the-needle Catheters for Continuous Popliteal-sciatic Nerve Blocks: A Randomized Clinical Trial.

Authors

Finneran JJ, Swisher MW, Gabriel RA, Said ET, Abanobi MU, Abramson WB, Dalstrom DJ, Schwartz AK, Kent WT, Yang D, Mascha EJ, Ilfeld BM
Anesthesiology. 2020 04; 132(4):854-866.
PMID: 31996555.

Abstract

The fundamental design of perineural catheters has changed little since they were first introduced WHAT THIS ARTICLE TELLS US THAT IS NEW: A novel catheter attached to the back of a suture-shaped needle can be inserted under ultrasound guidance to provide popliteal-sciatic nerve blockadeIn the first two days after foot and ankle surgery, analgesia provided using the suture-type catheters was found to be noninferior to that provided by conventional through-the-needle catheters BACKGROUND:: The basic perineural catheter design has changed minimally since inception, with the catheter introduced through or over a straight needle. The U.S. Food and Drug Administration recently cleared a novel perineural catheter design comprising a catheter attached to the back of a suture-shaped needle that is inserted, advanced along the arc of its curvature pulling the catheter past the target nerve, and then exited through the skin in a second location. The authors hypothesized that analgesia would be noninferior using the new versus traditional catheter design in the first two days after painful foot/ankle surgery with a primary outcome of average pain measured with the Numeric Rating Scale.