Perioperative nerve injury. Risk factor identification, prevention and work-up

Abstract

Background: Regional anesthesia techniques can have adverse effects, like peripheral nerve injuries. This can affect the practitioner on the choice of techniques when offering multimodal analgesia. Case report: We present the case of an arthroscopic rotator cuff repair on a patient with no comorbidities who presented peripheral nerve injury during post-op. Initially thought to have occurred as a consequence of the anesthetic technique, further study of the patient revealed the injuries to have been produced by the arthroscopic surgery. Conclusion: There are multiple factors that influence the possibility of peripheral nerve injury associated with nerve blocks. They can be grouped as related to the patient, the anesthetic technique or the surgical technique, the latter being the most relevant. If a patient manifests signs of peripheral nerve injury high-resolution magnetic resonance of the neural tissue must be performed immediately. Sensory nerve conduction study and electromyography must be performed 4 weeks after by an expert neurologist.