Ultrasonography for ilioinguinal/iliohypogastric nerve blocks in children † †This study was performed at the Red Cross Children Hospital, Klipfontein Road, Rondebosch 7700, Cape Town, South Africa.

Abstract

Ultrasound-guided ilioinguinal/iliohypogastric nerve blocks can be achieved with significantly smaller volumes of local anaesthetics. The intra- and postoperative requirements for additional analgesia are significantly lower than with the conventional method.

A Systematic Review and Meta-Analysis of Caudal Block as Compared to Noncaudal Regional Techniques for Inguinal Surgeries in Children

“…Although not directly applicable to our results, we explored for other studies on the possible use of US-INB in children. Apart from Willschke and colleagues [4], we only found 4 others. Two of them looked at the exact site of injection and plasma levels of ropivacaine, respectively [46, 47].…”

“…The use of US could potentially improve the precision of both CB and INB. It has been shown that the success rate of caudal injection [44, 45], as well as INB [4], could be better using US guidance. Despite this, we only found 2 studies comparing US-INB to CB [8, 29].…”

“…Landmark techniques can result in technical failure in up to 20% of children. This can be improved by using ultrasound guidance [4]. They possibly do not affect the pain caused by visceral manipulation.…”

“…Although CB may be considered as the most potent technique, it requires trained personnel and added cost; potentially it could expose children to higher risks without any superiority in clinical analgesia. Ultrasound (US) has been shown to improve the technical efficiency and success rate of regional blocks [4]. It is not established whether this translates into comparative clinical success.…”

Analgesic Benefits of Ultrasound-Guided Thoraco-Abdominal Wall Peripheral Nerve Blocks

“…IL/IH blocks were performed based only on landmarks in this study and in 86% of the blocks, the local anesthetic was found to be incorrectly administered in adjacent anatomic structures instead of around the IL/IH nerves [70]. Another study in children demonstrated that IL/IH nerve blocks can be successfully achieved with significantly smaller volumes of local anesthetic with the use of ultrasound over the landmark-based approach and that intra-and postoperative analgesic requirements are lower with the ultrasound-guided block [71].…”