The Second American Society of Regional Anesthesia and Pain Medicine Evidence-Based Medicine Assessment of Ultrasound-Guided Regional Anesthesia: Executive Summary.

Objectives: In 2009 and again in 2012, the American Society of Regional Anesthesia and Pain Medicine assembled an expert panel to assess the evidence basis for ultrasound guidance as a nerve localization tool for regional anesthesia.

Methods: The 2012 panel reviewed evidence from the first advisory but focused primarily on new information that had emerged since 2009. A new section was added regarding the accuracy and reliability of ultrasound for determining needle-to-nerve proximity.

The ASRA evidence-based medicine assessment of ultrasound-guided regional anesthesia and pain medicine: Executive summary.

Objectives: The American Society of Regional Anesthesia and Pain Medicine charged an expert panel to examine the evidence basis for ultrasound guidance as a nerve localization tool in the clinical practices of regional anesthesia and interventional pain medicine.

Methods: The panel searched, examined, and assessed the literature of ultrasound-guided regional anesthesia (UGRA) from the past 20 years. The qualities of studies were graded using the Jadad score.