COMBINED USE OF AXILLARY BLOCK AND LATERAL FEMORAL CUTANEOUS NERVE BLOCK IN UPPER-EXTREMITY INJURIES REQUIRING LARGE SKIN-GRAFTS

An axillary block and lateral femoral cutaneous nerve block combinatio n was used in 11 patients with upper-extremity injuries requiring larg e skin grafts. In our experience, this block combination was highly su ccessful. All but one of the patients obtained excellent pain relief ( mean visual analog pain scores, 0.2) that required no narcotic analges ics or sedatives. There were no systemic or neurologic side effects at tributed to the local anesthetic drugs. We believe that combining an a xillary block and a lateral femoral cutaneous nerve block is a clinica lly useful and effective technique and an excellent anesthetic alterna tive for procedures requiring large grafts for the upper extremity. (J Hand Surg 1998;23A:1100-1105. Copyright (C) 1998 by the American Soci ety for Surgery of the Hand.).