Serviço de Anestesiologia, Hospital de Dona Estefânia, Centro Hospitalar de Lisboa Central, E.P.E.
− ESPA- Annual Congress of the European Society for Paediatric Anaesthesiology (Poster).
Introduction: Regional techniques associated to general anesthesia in children remain a valuable quality mainstay indicator of an Anesthesiology department.1
Between 2009 and 2011 our institute experienced a 47,2% increase in the number of regional techniques performed, despite just a 10% increase in the number of surgeries done during that same timeframe.
The aim of this study was to examine and evaluate the extent of this dramatic improvement as well as hypothesize for some of the causes of that matter.
Methods: A total of 4219 children scheduled for elective Pediatric General Surgery, Orthopaedics, Urology and Plastic Surgery, in 2009 and 2011, were retrospectively compared, regarding the total number, newly introduced and kind of regional techniques performed.
Results: A total of 405 and 596 regional techniques were performed in 2009 and 2011, respectively.
Discussion: When comparing the two years, the relation between the total number of surgeries and techniques done doubled in Pediatric General Surgery (11% and 24,9%), tripled in Plastic Surgery (7,5% and 23,3%) and practically remained the same in Orthopaedics and Urology rounding about 30%. In both years the neuraxial blocks were the most common techniques performed, accounting for 61,5% in 2009 and 56,2% in 2011.
The acquisition of an ultrasound machine in 2010 might explain the double increase from 2009 to 2011 of the upper/lower limbs block (10,4% and 20,3%, respectively).
In fact, 14% of all blocks in 2011 were ultrasound guided.
Also vastly introduced in 2011, the transverse plane abdominis block as well as various head and neck blocks accounted for 9,6% of all regional anesthesia done that year.
Conclusions: The introduction of the ultrasound guided blocks as well as a greater performance of head and neck blocks might have contributed for the overall successful increase in the number of regional anesthetic techniques done throughout the two years analyzed.2
Keywords: regional techniques, ultrasound guided blocks.