ABSTRACT
Seventy reconstfuctive operations on the hand were done with the patient's full co-operation during the procedure. Anaesthesia was provided by a peripheral nerve block at the level of the wrist or the metacarpo-phalangeal joint. This technique enabled the surgeon to estimate the required extent of such operations as tenolysis, arthrolysis, arthroplasty, and tendon graft. It also helped the patient to appreciate the movement he could achieve post-operatively.
Subject(s)
Hand/surgery , Nerve Block , Peripheral Nerves , Adolescent , Adult , Aged , Anesthesia, Local , Arthroplasty , Child , Hand Deformities, Acquired/surgery , Humans , Middle Aged , Tendons/transplantation , Transplantation, AutologousABSTRACT
Patients who have suffered from a fracture of the shaft of the femur require urgent pain relief and this is most effectively achieved by block of the femoral nerve.
Subject(s)
Femoral Fractures , Femoral Nerve , Nerve Block/methods , HumansABSTRACT
Between May 1975 and March 1976, 19 patients with pain or hypersensitivity, or both, in the distribution of a peripheral nerve were treated with electro-analgesia in the physiotherapy department of Sydney Hospital. The rationale for this treatment is the work of Melzack and Wall (1965). The current selected was that used by Meyer and Field (1972), a unidirectional square wave current with pulse length of 0.1 millisecond at a frequency of 100 Hertz. The machine used was a GRASS S48 stimulator, which is a highly accurate instrument. The electrodes were twin silver plates, 15 mm x 7 mm approximately, covered with lint mounted with a space of 2.5 cm on a piece of perspex (Fig. 1) or silver wire covered with lint for use on fingers.
