Nerve blocks for young patients

Duncan Johnson and SonoSite’s Su Bassi with the S-Nerve system.

With intuitive controls and a wide range of transducers, SonoSite’s S-Nerve point-of-care system offers anaesthetists easier access to ultrasound guidance for line placement and regional nerve blocks.

The paediatric anaesthetics department at Leeds General Infirmary is taking advantage of this for regional anaesthesia and post-surgery multimodal analgesia.

Consultant paediatric anaesthetist Dr Duncan Johnson explained: “Ultrasound guidance is of particular benefit to paediatric specialities as the anatomy of a premature infant has little in common with that of a 17-year-old.

“Use of ultrasound to guide nerve blocks offers an easy route to safer, more reliable blocks, enabling the anaesthetist to visualise the needle adjacent to the nerve, while avoiding other important structures.”

Leeds is a national referral centre for hand surgery, specialising in transplants and improving motor function for children with congenital abnormalities. These procedures are generally performed in very young children, and effective nerve blocks can be difficult to achieve, due to a combination of their small size and atypical anatomy.

See the full report on page 14 of the September 2010 issue of RAD Magazine.