Of the five nerves that innervate the foot, the one in which anesthetic blocking presents the greatest difficulty is the tibial nerve. The aim of this clinical trial was to establish a protocol for two tibial nerve block anesthetic techniques to later compare the anesthetic efficiency of retromalleolar blocking and supramalleolar blocking in order to ascertain whether the supramalleolar approach achieved a higher effective blocking rate. A total of 110 tibial nerve blocks were performed. Location of the injection site was based on a prior ultrasound assessment of the tibial nerve. The block administered was 3 mL of 2% mepivacaine. The two anesthetic techniques under study provided very similar clinical results. The tibial nerve success rate was 81.8% for the retromalleolar technique and 78.2% for the supramalleolar technique. No significant differences in absolute latency time (p = 0.287), percentage of effective nerve blocks (p = 0.634), anesthetic block duration (p = 0.895), or pain level during puncture (p = 0.847) were found between the two techniques. The greater ease in locating the tibial nerve at the retromalleolar approach could suggest that this is the technique of choice for tibial nerve blocking, especially in the case of professionals new to the field. The supramalleolar technique could be worth considering for those more experienced professionals.
scite is a Brooklyn-based organization that helps researchers better discover and understand research articles through Smart Citations–citations that display the context of the citation and describe whether the article provides supporting or contrasting evidence. scite is used by students and researchers from around the world and is funded in part by the National Science Foundation and the National Institute on Drug Abuse of the National Institutes of Health.
hi@scite.ai
10624 S. Eastern Ave., Ste. A-614
Henderson, NV 89052, USA
Copyright © 2024 scite LLC. All rights reserved.
Made with 💙 for researchers
Part of the Research Solutions Family.