title: Nerve sheath catheter analgesia for forequarter amputation in paediatric oncology patients.
abstract: In a single centre over two years, four children (7 to 10 years old) with upper limb osteosarcoma underwent chemotherapy followed by forequarter amputation. All patients had preoperative pain and were treated with gabapentin. Nerve sheath catheters were placed in the brachial plexus intraoperatively and left in situ for five to 14 days. After surgery, all patients received local anaesthetic infused via nerve sheath catheters as part of a multimodal analgesia technique. Three of the four patients were successfully treated as outpatients with the nerve sheath catheters in situ. All four children experienced phantom limb pain; however, it did not persist beyond four weeks in any patient.
authors: Division of Anesthesia, St. Jude Children's Research Hospital, Memphis, Tennessee, USA.
authors: R N
authors: RN
authors: Kaddoum
authors: L L
authors: LL
authors: Burgoyne
authors: J A
authors: JA
authors: Pereiras
authors: M
authors: M
authors: Germain
authors: M
authors: M
authors: Neel
authors: D L
authors: DL
authors: Anghelescu
mesh_terms: D000671:Amputation, Surgical; D001859:Bone Neoplasms / Q000601:surgery*; D001917:Brachial Plexus; D057785:Catheters; D002648:Child; D006801:Humans; D009407:Nerve Block / Q000379:methods*; D012516:Osteosarcoma / Q000601:surgery*; D010149:Postoperative Pain / Q000628:therapy*; D010591:Phantom Limb / Q000628:therapy*; D034941:Upper Extremity / Q000601:surgery
keywords: local anaesthetic; multimodal analgesia forequarter amputation; nerve sheath catheter block; osteosarcoma; phantom limb pain