One-year outcomes after regional Anesthesia

Abstract

Introduction: Regional anaesthesia (RA) and its accompanying range of central and peripheral nerve blocks (PNB) have fast become a sophisticated and relatively safe mode of sole and adjunct anaesthetic technique in the past decade. Our aims were to retrospectively survey the one year neurological outcomes of regional anaesthesia in our center. We specifically wished to assess the incidence of residual pain as well as sensory and motor loss at one year after receiving regional anaesthesia. Methods: Our design is a telephone survey of all patients included in the study. Usual RA blocks done in our center include central neuraxial blocks as well as all upper limb, lower limb or abdominal wall blocks. Results: When looking at the neurological outcomes, 27% (22 patients) complained of residual pain at the site of the operation; 23% (19 patients) claimed they experienced numbness or paresthesias and 20% (17 patients) reported residual motor weakness. Only 2% of these patients received any further intervention and some stated they have reported their residual pain or sensory/ motor loss to their primary physicians or GPs. Majority of the symptoms was mild in nature (89%). Almost none returned to the chronic pain clinic for assessment. Conclusions: Our study shows a higher than expected incidence of neurological sequelae of this type of anaesthesia. This study highlights the need for careful assessment of RA outcomes and perhaps following these patients more closely at regular intervals during the year, a thorough interval neurological assessment with proper referrals and opening avenues for seeking help or giving feedback for the patients.