Continuous Axillary Brachial Plexus Block after Upper Extremity Operation / 대한마취과학회지

ABSTRACT

Background: The continuous brachial plexus block brings about the prolongation of surgical anesthesia, postoperative pain relief, and sympathectomy. Methods: The twenty-five patients scheduled for upper extremity operations had been taken the continuous axillary brachial plexus block procedure to relief postoperative pain and, to get the sympathetic block effect. We used local anesthetics less than maximum recommended dose, 0.125% bupivacaine continuously infused at 4 ml/hour via catheter. We adopted the faces pain rating scale to evaluate postoperative pain degree. The faces pain rating scale composed of six faces, based upon the degree of pain. The patients has been asked to choose these rating scale according to their painfulness three times a day for five days. Results: Clinically, we have found the effective decrease in the degree of pain. Systemic toxic reactions, hematoma and infection sign at injected site were not found. Conclusion: The pain of upper extremity after operation was controlled by continuous infusion of 0.125% bupivacaine, 4 ml/hr, usually.