Our experience with intravenous regional anaesthesia (IVRA) in 1,906 patients over a period of 20 years has confirmed that this technique is safe and effective. IVRA may be used to provide anaesthesia for surgery involving both the upper and lower extremities. The need for supplemental medication is ordinarily minimal, so the technique is particularly suitable for short procedures in an ambulat...

Prilocaine has become the agent of choice for Bier's block (or intravenous regional anaesthesia--IVRA), since 1983 when the product licence of bupivacaine was withdrawn for this purpose owing to fatal or serious complications. No serious complications have been documented in the literature relating to prilocaine in IVRA and we have conducted a survey within the U.K. which indicates that about 4...

STUDY OBJECTIVE To compare the anesthetic effects of two different concentrations and doses of ropivacaine (0.2% and 0.25%) with those of a conventional dose of lidocaine 0.5%. DESIGN Prospective, randomized, double-blinded, clinical investigation. SETTING Large metropolitan university hospital. PATIENTS 66 adult ASA physical status I and II patients undergoing forearm and hand surgery. ...

AIMS To study the pharmacokinetics of articaine and its metabolite articainic acid, in patients undergoing intravenous regional anaesthesia. METHODS Ten patients (three male, seven female, ASA class 1-2), scheduled for surgery of the hand or forearm were included in the study. Articaine (40 ml, 0.5% solution (200 mg) was injected over 30 s. In total fifteen arterial blood samples were taken; ...

BACKGROUND Gabapentin, an oral non-opioid analgesic, has been used to decrease pain after a variety of surgical procedures. We hypothesized that premedication with gabapentin would minimize tourniquet-related pain in patients receiving IV regional anesthesia (IVRA). METHODS Patients undergoing elective hand surgery with IVRA were randomly assigned to one of two study groups using a double-bli...

The fabrication and testing of a minimally intrusive (2 mm high, 10 mm diameter) biomedical interface pressure sensor are described. Such sensors are needed for the implementation of improved safety features in the next generation of automated intravenous regional anaesthesia (IVRA) systems. The sensor utilizes a structured elastomer as a deflection element sandwiched between the plates of a pa...

Background and Objectives: Melatonin and Ketorolac delay and minimize intraoperative tourniquet pain when used as premedication to lidocaine-based intravenous regional anesthesia (IVRA). It is unclear if Melatonin is more efficacious compared with Ketorolac. This study compared intraoperative tourniquet pain, postoperative analgesia, and side effects of using Melatonin vs. Ketorolac during outp...