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Ultrasound‐Guided Serratus Plane Block for Treatment of Postmastectomy Pain Syndromes in Breast Cancer Patients: A Case Series
Author(s) -
Zocca Jennifer A.,
Chen Grant H.,
Puttanniah Vinay G.,
Hung Joseph C.,
Gulati Amitabh
Publication year - 2017
Publication title -
pain practice
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.899
H-Index - 58
eISSN - 1533-2500
pISSN - 1530-7085
DOI - 10.1111/papr.12482
Subject(s) - medicine , breast cancer , block (permutation group theory) , surgery , cancer , geometry , mathematics
Postmastectomy pain syndrome is common after surgical treatment for breast cancer and may be challenging to manage. Currently, there are a wide variety of approaches to treat this type of pain, including medications, physical therapy, and interventional procedures. However, because of the complexity of innervation of the breast, the serratus plane block may better target the web of nerves innervating the anterior chest wall including the breast. We present a case series of 8 patients who were successfully treated with serratus plane block for pain after treatment for breast cancer. We feel that this particular application for the serratus plane block deserves further investigation, as it is relatively easy to perform and has good clinical utility for this type of pain.