Abstract:
Brachial plexus blockade anaesthesia for upper limb surgery
was performed using lidocaine 1% with adrenaline 1:200,000
solution. The random study population conuisted of 40 patients.
Two approaches of achieving brachial plexus blockade were
studied and compared. Twenty patients were blocked by each
of the two approaches. There was an overall success rate
of 87.5%. The blockade success rates were 90% and 85% by
the axillary and supraclavicular routes respectively. These
success rates are similar to those reported by other studies.
There was a 15% incidence of complications by the supraclari-
cular route, while it was 5% in the axillary group. These
results compare well •with other studies which also report a
higher incidence of complications associated with the
supraclavicular approach than the axillary approach.
The mean onset of analgesia in the supraclavicular and
axlllarygroupwas 13.99 ! 2.49 and 14.92 ! 2.59 minutes
re'spectiy~ly. There was no significant difference in the
mean duration of' analgesia in the two approaches.' These
resul ts are similar to those reported from various other
studies.
