Programmed, intermittent boluses versus continuous infusion to the sciatic nerve - a non-inferiority randomized, controlled trial.

Background: Trials comparing programmed, intermittent boluses (PIB) and continuous infusion in catheter-based nerve blocks found no analgesic differences. However, as these trials used equal doses of local anesthetic (LA), the time of action of each bolus was not accounted for. Therefore, the dose-sparing benefits of PIB may have been overlooked.

Longitudinal neural exposure to local anesthetic and nerve block duration: a retrospective analysis of experimental data from healthy volunteer trials.

Background And Objectives: Characteristics of a nerve block depend on the distribution of local anesthetic (LA) close to the nerve. The relationship between longitudinal distribution of LA and nerve block characteristics has not been investigated , but one study showed decrements in action potential amplitudes with increasing exposure length. We describe the influence of longitudinal neural exposure to LA on nerve block duration adjusted for other likely influential factors.

The effect of ropivacaine concentration on common peroneal nerve block duration using a fixed dose: A randomised, double-blind trial in healthy volunteers.

Background: The effect of local anaesthetic concentration on peripheral nerve block duration is unclear. Recent clinical trials found nerve blocks of equivalent duration despite changing local anaesthetic concentration but with a fixed local anaesthetic dose. A criticism of these studies is that the local anaesthetic doses used were above the proposed local anaesthetic dose-duration ceiling level, masking any potential effect of different local anaesthetic concentrations on nerve block duration.

Local Anesthetic Injection Speed and Common Peroneal Nerve Block Duration: A Randomized Controlled Trial in Healthy Volunteers.

Background And Objectives: The speed of local anesthetic (LA) injections in peripheral regional anesthesia ranges from slow continuous infusions (3-12 mL/h) to rapid manual injections (>7500 mL/h). Optimizing injection speed could augment the spread of LA toward the targeted nerves and influence nerve block characteristics. The objective of this study was to investigate whether injection speed of a single dose of LA affects peripheral nerve block duration.