Local anesthetic blockade of peripheral nerves for treatment of XXXX : systematic analysis.

@entity1 @entity158 @entity9 @entity616 @entity288
BACKGROUND: Nerve blocks with local anesthetics have been used in the diagnosis and treatment of @entity9 . Usually these blocks were administered in combination with @entity288 and other drugs that can be effective by themselves. Although lasting benefits from @entity616 in @entity9 have long been described, definitive evidence is lacking. We had the following objectives in this systematic review: to analyze the evidence behind the practice of peripheral nerve blockade with local anesthetics in @entity1 with @entity9 and @entity158 syndromes; to assess the duration of @entity158 relief after conduction block resolution; and to evaluate the effectiveness of the treatment of these syndromes with a series of blocks. METHODS: We searched Medline, Embase, narrative reviews, and book chapters. Only articles published in English were collected. The list of 3347 identified articles was reduced to 39 articles that were read entirely, 12 of which met inclusion criteria. RESULTS: Twelve included articles were analyzed. Each can be classified as a single case report or case series; there were no controlled studies among them. Nine reports assessed a single block outcome; all recorded @entity158 relief beyond the duration of conduction blockade. Those 9 reports represented a total of 69 @entity1 , 30 of whom had complete @entity158 relief and 10 had relief >= 50%. Seven reports with the assessment of continuous @entity158 >= 1 week after a single block reported complete or profound @entity158 relief in 11 of 17 @entity1 . All 3 reports with the assessment of a series of blocks in a large number of @entity1 (total of 270) reported overall positive results. CONCLUSION: Because all reviewed articles were only single case reports or case series, no reliable conclusion could be drawn concerning the effectiveness of @entity616 with local anesthetics in @entity9 . However, 2 features of the analyzed reports-the large magnitude of the effect and the high consistency of the reported outcome-indicate that future research efforts are warranted.
