Lateral Approach Of Supraclavicular Brachial Plexus As A Better Alternative To Conventional Supraclavicular Brachial Plexus Block

Purpose: Supraclavicular brachial plexus block technique, blocks the entire arm distally till mid arm level but risk of pneumothorax, phrenic nerve palsy and vascular puncture could be life threatening so to overcome these sequale we compared the lateral approach of supraclavicular brachial plexus block with conventional approach of supraclavicular block. Methods: Patients were randomly allocated in two groups; group 1 (n=50) received conventional approach of supraclavicular brachial plexus block and group 2 (n= 50) received lateral approach of supraclavicular brachial plexus block. Both the group received lignocaine with adrenaline (1:200000) 7 mg/kg and bupivacaine 2 mg.kg -1. The total volume of drug injected was 30 ml. Results: All the patients were assessed in terms of Time of onset of analgesia, Extent of sensory block, Quality of motor blocked, Tourniquet tolerance, Technical difficulty, Total duration of analgesia, Total duration of motor paralysis, and complications. Appropriate statistical analysis was done. Conclusion: We concluded that the Lateral Approach of Supraclavicular brachial plexus block justifies its own routine clinical uses because it has got better compliance of block in relation to onset, duration, extent and success rate. It is less traumatic and causes less adverse effects like puncture of vessels and pleura.