Respiratory Failure Following Interscalene Block for the Treatment of Shoulder Dislocation in a Patient with COVID-19

Introduction: Guidelines recommend the use of regional anesthesia for patients with COVID-19, when possible. Interscalene block (ISB) is the standard care for analgesia of shoulder surgery. Hemidiaphragmatic paresis due to phrenic nerve block is expected in ISB but is usually well-compensated. We present a patient with pulmonary involvement of COVID-19 candidate for the surgery of shoulder dislocation under ISB who experienced respiratory failure after the block. Case Presentation: A 36-year-old female patient with COVID-19 developed a shoulder dislocation following a seizure. Relocating the joint was successfully attempted under intravenous sedation and ultrasound-guided ISB. The patient developed respiratory distress due to hemidiaphragmatic paresis after the block. She was managed using a continuous positive airway pressure (CPAP) mask for 48 hours until the pulmonary condition improved. Conclusions: Anesthetists should prepare themselves to replace ISB with diaphragm-sparing blocks or apply techniques to reduce the chance of hemidiaphragmatic paresis after ISB in patients with COVID-19.

Phrenic nerve block during nonintubated video-assisted thoracoscopic surgery: a single-centre, double-blind, randomized controlled trial

There has been interest in the use of nonintubated techniques for video-assisted thoracoscopic surgery (VATS) in both awake and sedated patients. The authors’ centre developed a nonintubated technique with spontaneous ventilation for use in a patient under general anaesthesia using a phrenic nerve block. This treatment was compared with a case-matched control group. The authors believe that this technique is beneficial for optimizing anaesthesia for patients undergoing VATS. The patients were randomly allocated (1:1) to the phrenic nerve block (PNB) group and the control group. Both groups of patients received a laryngeal mask airway (LMA) that was inserted after anaesthetic induction, which permitted spontaneous ventilation and local anaesthesia in the forms of a paravertebral nerve block, a PNB and a vagal nerve block. However, the patients in the PNB group underwent procedures with 2% lidocaine, whereas saline was used in the control group. The primary outcome included the propofol doses. Secondary outcomes included the number of propofol boluses, systolic blood pressure (SBP), pH values of arterial blood gas and lactate (LAC), length of LMA pulled out, length of hospital stay (length of time from the operation to the time of discharge) and complications after 1 month. Intraoperatively, there were increases in lactate (F = 12.31, P = 0.001) in the PNB group. There was less propofol (49.20 ± 8.73 vs. 57.20 ± 4.12, P = 0.000), fewer propofol boluses (P = 0.002), a lower pH of arterial blood gas (F = 7.98, P = 0.006) and shorter hospital stays (4.10 ± 1.39 vs. 5.40 ± 1.22, P = 0.000) in the PNB group. There were no statistically significant differences in the length of the LMA pulled out, SBP or complications after 1 month between the groups. PNB optimizes the anaesthesia of nonintubated VATS.

Role of magnesium in abdominal wall dyskinesia.

Objective: Jerky involuntary intermittent abdominal wall movements are mentioned with numerous names including abdominal wall dyskinasia and belly dancer’s dyskinesia. Literature incorporates a sizeable amount of case reports. Patterson analyzed the largest series published in 2011. Although associated with central and peripheral nervous system disorders and published precipitating factors like anxiety, operations particularly abdominal, diarrhea, nutritional imbalances, pregnancy under the umbrella of idiopathic/psychogenic /functional belly’s dancer’s dyskinesia. Various investigations including blood count, ESR, CT, MRI, ECG plain radiography do not reflect any abnormality. Similarly a large number of modalities are utilized to manage the disorder from diazepam to phrenic nerve block; however no definite treatment has been mentioned. Magnesium calms down the excitability of central and peripheral nervous systems by inhibition of NMDA receptors and calcium influx mediated acetylcholine release. Magnesium deficiency results in excitability of the excitable tissues resulting in neuromuscular hyperactivity. We are reporting a patient who presented with abdominal wall dyskinasia, managed successfully with an infusion of magnesium sulphate which has never been described.