Anesthetic and recovery profiles of lidocaine versus mepivacaine for spinal anesthesia in patients undergoing outpatient orthopedic arthroscopic procedures.

Study Objective: To compare isobaric lidocaine and mepivacaine in outpatient arthroscopic surgery.

Design: Prospective, randomized, double-blinded study.

Setting: Ambulatory surgery center affiliated with an academic tertiary-care hospital.

Evaluation of a proximal block site and the use of nerve-stimulator-guided needle placement for posterior tibial nerve block.

Background: Posterior tibial nerve (PTN) block has traditionally been performed in the para-medial malleolar area without nerve stimulator (NS) guidance. The PTN can also be blocked proximally (7 cm) above the medial malleolus in the subfascial plane between the flexor hallucis longus and flexor digitorum longus tendons. In this study we compared the frequency of successful PTN block at the traditional distal (D) site (2 cm above the medial malleolus) with and without NS guidance.

Neurologic sequelae after interscalene brachial plexus block for shoulder/upper arm surgery: the association of patient, anesthetic, and surgical factors to the incidence and clinical course.

We determined the incidence, distribution, and resolution of neurologic sequelae and the association with anesthetic, surgical, and patient factors after single-injection interscalene block (ISB) using levobupivacaine 0.625% with epinephrine 1:200,000 in subjects undergoing shoulder or upper arm surgery, or both, in 693 consecutive adult patients. After a standardized ISB, assessments were made at 24 and 48 h and at 2 and 4 wk for anesthesia, hypesthesia, paresthesias, pain/dysesthesias, and motor weakness.

Nerve stimulator-assisted evoked motor response predicts the latency and success of a single-injection sciatic block.

Variable onset latency of single-injection sciatic nerve block (SNB) may result from drug deposition insufficiently close to all components of the nerve. We hypothesized that this variability is caused by the needle tip position relative to neural components, which is objectified by the type of evoked motor response (EMR) elicited before local anesthetic injection. One-hundred ASA I-II patients undergoing reconstructive ankle surgery received infragluteal-parabiceps SNB using 0.

Laparoscopic appendectomy in an outpatient setting.

Study Objective: To determine the ability to perform laparoscopic appendectomy on an outpatient basis.

Design: Prospective study (Canadian Task Force classification II-2).

Setting: University ambulatory surgery center.