Papers of the Week

After institutional ethics committee approval and informed consent, 20 patients with clavicle fractures were recruited. An ultrasound-guided C5 root block was performed by injecting 3 mL of 0.5% bupivacaine with a subsequent ultrasound-guided supraclavicular nerve (SCN) block with 3 mL of 0.5% bupivacaine. A combination of low-volume C5 root block and SCN block provided reliable awake anesthesia and postoperative analgesia in patients with fractured clavicles. This technique can avoid a general anesthesia for fractures of the mid and lateral clavicle. Further studies should focus on the optimal volume of local anesthetics required for the success of this technique.