NCT02589054

Regional Changes in Upper Limb Perfusion Following Brachial Plexus Block: A Pilot Study

• Status: Completed
• Phase: —
• Study type: Observational
• Enrollment: 18 (actual)
• Sponsor: London Health Sciences Centre Research Institute OR Lawson Research Institute of St. Joseph's · Academic / Other
• Sex: All
• Age: 18 Years – 80 Years
• Healthy volunteers: Not accepted

Summary

Ultrasound-guided regional anesthesia is increasingly being used in the modern surgical environment to provide specific intraoperative anesthesia and postoperative analgesia. Infiltration of local anesthesics around peripheral nerves firs blocks sympathetic, then sensory, then motor nerve function. Sympathectomy-induced vasodilation following brachial plexus block results in increased skin temperature and arterial flow within minutes. Although it has not been shown to reliably increase diameter or cross-sectional area of distal arteries, brachial plexus block does change the pattern and quantity of blood flow to the hand. Given that the magnitude of change of flow cannot be attributed to vessel radius, the investigators suspect that the more laminar fluid dynamics are due to vascular tone. The investigators study aims to quantify alterations in physiology and peripheral vasodilator response. The investigators anticipate that axially block will significantly improve regional blood flow.

Conditions

• Anesthesia, Conduction
• Nerve Block
• Sympathectomy
• Regional Blood Flow

Interventions

Type	Name	Description
OTHER	Monitoring

Timeline

• Start date: 2015-11-01
• Primary completion: 2016-01-01
• Completion: 2016-03-01
• First posted: 2015-10-28
• Last updated: 2017-03-30