NYSORA - The New York School of Regional Anesthesia: Regional Anesthesia in the United States: The Use of Peripheral Nerve Blocks in the USA

Regional Anesthesia in the United States: The Use of Peripheral Nerve Blocks in
the USA
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Vijay Patel on 19/03/2009 16:38:00

The results of this survey point out that the American Society of Regional
Anesthesia (ASRA) and its membership are significant promoters of the regional
anesthesia and peripheral nerve blocks.

Based on: "Hadzic A, Vloka JD, Kuroda MM, Koorn R, Birnbach DJ. The use of
peripheral nerve blocks in anesthesia practice. A national survey. Reg Anesth
Pain Med 1998:23:241-246".
In an attempt to ascertain clinical practice paterns and use of peripheral
nerve blocks, we surveyed 805 randomly selected U.S. anesthesiologists.[1]
Responses from 409 attending anesthesiologists (response rate 56.5%) revealed
that while almost all of them (97.8%) regularly use at least some regional
anesthesia techniques in their practice, significantly fewer use peripheral
nerve blocks. Most anesthesiologists (59.7%) perform less than five peripheral
nerve blocks a month. Peripheral nerve blocks of the lower extremity (femoral
32%, sciatic 22%, popliteal 11%) were less frequently used than peripheral nerve
blocks of the upper extremity (axillary 88%, interscalene 61%; p