Use of peripheral blocks and tourniquets in foot surgery: A survey of Australian orthopaedic foot and ankle surgeons.

Background: The most common reasons for unplanned admission to the hospital from outpatient surgery have the potential to be minimised or eliminated by peripheral nerve blocks (PNB). Tourniquets are commonly used in elective extremity surgery but it's use is mostly guided by personal preferences and does no correlate with the existing literature. Our aim was to explore the current practice of PNB and tourniquet use by foot and ankle surgeons in Australia.

Paravertebral blockade for day-case breast augmentation: a randomized clinical trial.

Background: Bilateral breast augmentation is an increasingly popular day-case procedure. Local infiltration with sedation is routinely used for its ease of application compared with the more complex and potentially riskier paravertebral blockade (PVB). We hypothesized that ropivacaine injected by experienced anesthesia providers into the paravertebral space as a PVB was more effective than ropivacaine injected by the operating surgeon (plastic surgeon) directly into the zone of surgical dissection.

Brief reports: paravertebral block for anesthesia: a systematic review.

Background: The objective of this review was to assess the safety and efficacy of thoracic and lumbar paravertebral blocks (PVBs) for surgical anesthesia through a systematic review of the peer-reviewed literature. PVBs for surgical anesthesia were compared with general anesthesia (GA) or other regional anesthetic techniques.

Methods: We searched literature databases including MEDLINE, EMBASE, and The Cochrane Library up to May 2008.

Bilateral thoracic paravertebral block for abdominoplasty.

Thoracic bilateral paravertebral block is a technique commonly used in the ambulatory setting for numerous plastic surgery procedures. Paravertebral block has not been reported with abdominoplasty surgery. This case series explores this anesthetic technique in the inpatient and day patient setting.

Bilateral ankle blocks: a prospective audit.

Background: There are significant advantages to the practice of bilateral ankle block. However, clinicians are reluctant to employ this technique due to concerns over reliability, local anaesthetic longevity and toxicity, surgical efficiency, and patient comfort.

Methods: Sixty-six patients undergoing bilateral ankle blocks during mid- and forefoot surgery were audited to determine success rate, local anaesthetic safety and efficacy, and patient acceptance.

Acceptability of ankle tourniquet use in midfoot and forefoot surgery: audit of 1000 cases.

Background: While use of a thigh tourniquet with general anesthesia is widely accepted, use of an ankle tourniquet in the awake patient is more controversial. In particular, it is not clear how long patients tolerate this device or what the consequences are of intraoperative tourniquet pain.

Method: A prospective audit was done of 1000 patients undergoing midfoot and forefoot surgery using an ankle block.