They pose serious health risks if they are misused. Opioids control pain by reducing the intensity of pain signals that affect the areas of the brain that control sensation and emotion. The anesthesiologist may choose from a variety of numbing medications, including lidocaine, which is also used as a numbing agent for dental procedures.Ī nerve block typically takes less than 10 minutes to administer and up to 30 minutes to take full effect.Ī nerve block is a strategy to help limit the use of prescription opioids, which are a type of narcotic medication that was once thought of as the most effective treatment for pain. It’s important to avoid making an injection directly into it, which can cause serious side effects including limb numbness or weakness. With a nerve block, the idea is to only send medication around the nerve so that the nerve can absorb it. The anesthesiologist will watch the progress of the needle on a monitor, using “real-time” ultrasound guidance to make sure the pain relief medication is delivered with precision. Next, she will insert a hair-thin needle-the size of an acupuncture needle-and inject medication into the surgical site in an area around the nerve. Often, she will give you a mild sedative first to relieve any anxiety and help you relax. The anesthesiologist will perform a nerve block before you go into the operating room. She has been working to make nerve blocks available to more Yale Medicine patients having musculoskeletal and other types of surgeries, and pursuing research on their effectiveness. Li says patients using nerve blocks receive multiple benefits, including better pain control, less time in the hospital, quicker recovery, and less need for medication when they go home. While nerve blocks have been around for decades, improved ultrasound guidance in the 1990s increased the precision of the injections, making them a safer and more effective choice, Dr. “Nerve blocks are a way to better control the acute pain at the time of surgery, and it can help us ease the transition to controlling pain when you’re home,” says Jinlei Li, MD, who is Yale Medicine’s director of regional anesthesia for Yale New Haven Hospital’s Saint Raphael Campus. Then, when the surgeon makes the incision, the nerves will be too numb to do their usual work of alerting the brain about the pain, which means you won’t feel it. The anesthesiologist inserts a fine needle into the surgery site and injects pain medication in an effort to bathe (but not touch) the nerves. If you are planning to have surgery and you’ve never had (or heard of) a nerve block, a type of regional anesthesia, you might be surprised to learn how easy and effective it is.
0 Comments
Leave a Reply. |
AuthorWrite something about yourself. No need to be fancy, just an overview. ArchivesCategories |