Open AccessA Comparison of Sartorius Versus Quadriceps Stimulation for Femoral Nerve Block
Author(s) -
J. Anns,
Ewen W. Chen,
Nasim Nirkavan,
Colin J. L. McCartney,
Imad T. Awad
Publication year - 2011
Publication title -
anesthesia and analgesia/anesthesia and analgesia
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 1.404
H-Index - 201
eISSN - 1526-7598
pISSN - 0003-2999
DOI - 10.1213/ane.0b013e3182052213
Subject(s) - femoral nerve , medicine , sartorius muscle , saphenous nerve , quadriceps femoris muscle , anesthesia , ropivacaine , thigh , motor nerve , nerve block , stimulation , anatomy , surgery , isometric exercise
Femoral nerve block is widely used for regional anesthesia and analgesia in many lower limb operations. Peripheral nerve stimulation of the femoral nerve may elicit 1 of 2 responses: contraction of the sartorius muscle through stimulation of its muscular branch or contraction of the quadriceps muscle through stimulation of its respective muscular branches. Historically, a quadriceps response has been preferred. We hypothesized that the success of femoral nerve block using a sartorius muscle evoked motor response is equivalent to that using quadriceps muscle twitch response. This prospective randomized double-blind controlled trial compared sartorius or quadriceps muscle evoked motor response as the end point for stimulation for femoral nerve block.