Regional Anesthesia in the Burn Trauma Patient

Continuous peripheral nerve blocks for burn management: a retrospective study of outcomes and complications in 281 burn patients

BACKGROUND

There is scarce literature regarding the use of continuous peripheral nerve blocks in acute burn patients, who may be at higher risk for catheter-related complications, including infection. We sought to describe our center's experience and infection rate with continuous perineural catheters in the setting of pain management for patients suffering from burns.

METHODS

A retrospective observational study was performed including all patients admitted to an American Burn Association-verified regional burn center between January 2018 and July 2023 who received a continuous peripheral nerve block for an acute burn injury.

RESULTS

There were 281 patients in the study cohort who received 484 perineural catheters. The cohort was 52% men with a median age of 39 years (IQR 30-55). A catheter-associated infection, defined as a clinical diagnosis by the treating physicians requiring the need for treatment with antibiotics or surgical debridement, was identified in six perineural catheters (1.2%, 95% CI 0% to 2.2%) involving six different patients (2.1%, 95% CI 0% to 3.8%). The median total body surface area burned was 5% (IQR 2-9%) and 20% of patients had full-thickness burns. The most commonly used catheters were infraclavicular (49%), popliteal sciatic (29%), femoral (19%), and adductor canal (17%). One-third (33%) of patients did not require operating room debridement as the block provided sufficient analgesia for bedside debridement. The median duration of catheter use was 6 days (IQR 4-8). There were no documented cases of nerve injury or toxicity, vascular injury, or local anesthetic systemic toxicity.

CONCLUSIONS

In our practice, continuous perineural catheters in the setting of acute burns are associated with an infection rate comparable to other surgical populations.

Ultrasound-Guided Axillary Brachial Plexus Block for the Management of Graft Site Pain During Dressing Change in the Burn-Injured Patient: A Randomized Control Trial

Burn injuries requiring split-thickness skin grafting procedures often require ongoing wound aggravation in the form of dressing changes. These dressing changes may cause significant pain due to stimulation of damaged nerve endings in the epidermal layer. A randomized control trial, pilot study, was undertaken to evaluate the impact of ultrasound-guided regional nerve block on the outcome of patient reported pain scores by inpatients requiring dressing changes for hand and upper limb burn injuries. Twenty participants aged >18 years, requiring split-skin grafting for burn injuries of <15% total body surface area were enrolled from a tertiary burns unit between August 2018 and September 2020. Participants were randomized to control (10 participants) or intervention group (10 participants). All participants received analgesia as per their treating team, the intervention group received the addition of an ultrasound-guided axillary brachial plexus block prior to their dressing change procedure. The primary outcome was to assess perceived pain at the graft site as measured by the Numeric Pain Rating Scale (0-10) before, during, and after dressing change procedure. There was strong evidence of a difference in the adjusted mean change score between groups, with a mean reduction of 4.3 in the intervention group, indicating reduced pain, and a mean increase of 1.2 in the control group (P < .001). No adverse events occurred in either group, and the addition of ultrasound-guided regional anesthesia (RA) for the treatment of dressing pain was determined to be a safe and effective intervention.