Point-of-Care Ultrasound-Guided Serratus Anterior Plane Block for Chest Tube Placement in a Spontaneous Pneumothorax.

Abstract

Chest tube placement is a common procedure in the pediatric emergency department. There is general emergency medicine literature as well as pediatric cardiac surgery literature supporting the use of an ultrasound-guided serratus anterior plane block for regional anesthesia with no prior pediatric emergency medicine studies to our knowledge. This case describes a pediatric patient who required chest tube placement twice for a pneumothorax and describes his preference for the nerve block over the more commonly used procedural sedation.