ORIGINAL ARTICLE   

Minerva Pediatrics 2023 April;75(2):171-5

DOI: 10.23736/S2724-5276.16.04716-2

Copyright © 2016 EDIZIONI MINERVA MEDICA

lingua: Inglese

The efficacy of pediatric ultrasound guided brachial plexus block anesthesia and determination of optimal anesthetic drug dosage

Chuanguo XU ¹, Bing WANG ², Aijun YANG ³, Zhiquan XIE ⁴, Chunxue LIU ⁵, Xiuwei LANG ¹, Guanglei WANG ⁵ ✉

¹ Department of Anesthesiology, Tai’an Maternity and Children Health Care Hospital, Tai’an, China; ² Department of Special Examination, Tai’an Maternity and Children Health Care Hospital, Tai’an, China; ³ Department of Nursing, Tai’an Maternity and Children Health Care Hospital, Tai’an, China; ⁴ Department of Anesthesiology, Central Hospital of Xinwen Mining Ltd., Tai’an, China; ⁵ The 4th Department of Pediatric Internal Medicine, Tai’an Maternity and Children Health Care Hospital, Tai’an, China

BACKGROUND: The objective of the present study was to investigate the effect of pediatric ultrasound guided brachial plexus block anesthesia and to determine the optimal anesthetic drug dosage.
METHODS: Ninety-seven children who required elective upper limb surgery were randomly divided into three groups: group A with 32 cases, group B with 35 cases and group C with 30 cases. All three groups of patients underwent ultrasound guided brachial plexus block anesthesia. To compare differences of anesthetic effect, group A received 0.30% ropivacaine, group B received 0.40% ropivacaine, and group C received 0.50% ropivacaine.
RESULTS: The total volume was 24 mL in each group. The onset time of ulnar nerve block in Group A was significantly longer than in Group B and Group C (P<0.05); there were no significant differences in onset time of nerve block of the other nerves among the three groups (P>0.05). Block maintenance time in Group A was significantly less than in Group B and Group C (P<0.05). The effective rate of anesthesia of Group A was lower than in Group B and Group C and the differences were statistically significant (P<0.05). There was no significant difference in the incidence of anesthetic complications among the three groups (P>0.05).
CONCLUSIONS: Pediatric ultrasound guided brachial plexus block anesthesia is safe and reliable. Ropivacaine used at 0.40% is the optimal lower-concentration anesthetic dosage.

KEY WORDS: Brachial plexus block; Ropivacaine; Pediatrics