DEFINITION Recent clinical experience and experimental data define a rather narrow therapeutic index for local anesthetics with respect to their potential for neurotoxic injury.1 The actual risk varies based on…
DEFINITION This chapter defines mechanical neuraxis injury as fulfilling one of two criteria. The first, direct mechanical injury, encompasses those circumstances in which a needle or catheter directly damages the…
The right dose differentiates a poison and a remedy. —Paracelsus (1493–1541) Marc A. Huntoon and Halena M Gazelka OVERALL SCOPE GLUCOCORTICOSTEROID PHYSIOLOGY HYPOTHALAMIC-PITUITARY-ADRENAL AXIS SUPRESSION Scope Pathophysiology Risk Factors Diagnosis…
DEFINITION The performance of regional anesthesia may cause muscle injury by several mechanisms. Ischemia from an occlusive tourniquet such as during an intravenous regional anesthetic may produce muscle damage, but…
COMPLICATIONS ASSOCIATED WITH PROVOCATIVE DISCOGRAPHY Because of its nonspecific features, the diagnosis of discogenic pain is not easily made by clinical means alone. Useful tools in the search for the…
DEFINITION Transforaminal injections are injections delivered into an intervertebral foramen of the vertebral column. The target is typically the spinal that lies in the foramen. When used for diagnostic purposes,…
DEFINITION AND SCOPE The relevant anatomy and technique for superior hypogastric and ganglion impar blocks have been well described, but only limited observational data point to the usefulness of these…
SOME BACKGROUND ON RISK A more complete understanding of risk necessarily flows from the development of an accurate definition of the term risk. One dictionary definition of risk is “possibility…
Levels of evidence: Ia, evidence from meta-analysis; III, evidence from well-designed, nonexperimental descriptive studies such as comparative studies or case reports; IV, expert opinion.Table modified from Neal JM. Ultrasound-guided regional…
DEFINITION AND SCOPE Neurolytic celiac plexus block (NCPB) is a therapeutic analgesic technique predominantly employed in the management of patients suffering from visceral pain due to intra-abdominal malignancies. The block…
