Combined femoral and popliteal sciatic nerve blocks versus epidural anesthesia in great saphenous veins stripping surgery with multiple stab avulsion.

Chung,  Jin Yong; Heo,  Min Hyeok; Seo,  Kwi Chu; Song,  Seok Young; Roh,  Woon Seok; Park,  Ki Hyuk

doi:2009.56.1.25

Original Article

Korean Journal of Anesthesiology 2009;56(1):25-30.
DOI: https://doi.org/10.4097/kjae.2009.56.1.25

Combined femoral and popliteal sciatic nerve blocks versus epidural anesthesia in great saphenous veins stripping surgery with multiple stab avulsion.

Jin Yong Chung, Min Hyeok Heo, Kwi Chu Seo, Seok Young Song, Woon Seok Roh, Ki Hyuk Park

¹Department of Anesthesiology and Pain Medicine, School of Medicine, Catholic University of Daegu, Daegu, Korea. usno@cu.ac.kr
²Department of General Surgery, School of Medicine, Catholic University of Daegu, Daegu, Korea.

Abstract

BACKGROUND
This study was designed to test the hypothesis that a combined femoral and politeal sciatic nerve blocks (FPSNB) would have excellent clinical properties and better patient satisfaction than epidural anesthesia for the great saphenous veins stripping (GSVS) surgery with multiple stab avulsion (MSA).
METHODS
Sixty patients were allocated into two groups. The epidural group received epidural anesthesia with 15 ml of 0.75% ropivacaine (n = 30), and the FPSNB group received a combined FPSNB with 25 ml of 1.5% mepivacaine with a nerve stimulator (n = 30). We assessed the anesthetic and postoperative records. A questionnaire-based study including patient satisfaction for anesthetic techniques (100 point scale) was conducted 3 days postoperatively by a blinded observer.
RESULTS
The time from initial injection to the start of surgery and the duration of sensory blockade were not different between groups (P > 0.05). The percentage of patients with anesthesia-related complications in epidural anesthesia was 33.3%, 46.6%, 23.3% and 20% for shivering, hypotension, bradycardia and postoperative voiding difficulty, respectively. FPSNB did not produce these complications. Additional analgesia with 50-100 microgram of fentanyl was more frequently used in FPSNB (60% vs 6.7%, FPSNB vs Epidural group, P < 0.01), but patient satisfaction of FPSNB was higher than epidural anesthesia (88.1 +/- 13.2 vs 76.5 +/- 15.8, FPSNB vs Epidural group, P < 0.01).
CONCLUSIONS
A combined FPSNB with a small amount of narcotics is an adequate anesthetic technique for unilateral GSVS surgery with MSA.

Key Words: Femoral; Nerve blocks; Saphenous vein; Sciatic; Stripping surgery