title: The Cleveland Clinic experience with supraclavicular and popliteal ambulatory nerve catheters.
abstract: Continuous peripheral nerve blocks (CPNB) are commonly used for intraoperative and postoperative analgesia. Our study aimed at describing our experience with ambulatory peripheral nerve catheters. After Institutional Review Board approval, records for all patients discharged with supraclavicular or popliteal catheters between January 1, 2009 and December 31, 2011 were reviewed. A licensed practitioner provided verbal and written instructions to the patients prior to discharge. Daily follow-up phone calls were conducted. Patients either removed their catheters at home with real-time simultaneous telephone guidance by a member of the Acute Pain Service or had them removed by the surgeon during a regular office visit. The primary outcome of this analysis was the incidence of complications, categorized as pharmacologic, infectious, or other. The secondary outcome measure was the average daily pain score. Our study included a total of 1059 patients with ambulatory catheters (769 supraclavicular, 290 popliteal). The median infusion duration was 5 days for both groups. Forty-two possible complications were identified: 13 infectious, 23 pharmacologic, and 6 labeled as other. Two patients had retained catheters, 2 had catheter leakage, and 2 had shortness of breath. Our study showed that prolonged use of ambulatory catheters for a median period of 5 days did not lead to an increased incidence of complications.
authors.affiliation: Anesthesiology, Cleveland Clinic, 9500 Euclid Avenue, E-31, Cleveland, OH 44195, USA.
authors.forename: Ramez
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Gharabawy
authors.affiliation: Anesthesiology Department, University of Cincinnati, 231 Albert Sabin Way, Cincinnati, OH 45267-0531, USA ; Anesthesiology Department, University of Wisconsin School of Medicine and Public Health, 600 Highland Avenue, Madison, WI 53792-3272, USA.
authors.forename: Alaa
authors.identifier: 0000-0002-9890-7860
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Abd-Elsayed
authors.affiliation: CCLCM of Case Western Reserve University, Cleveland Clinic, 9500 Euclid Avenue, E-31, Cleveland, OH 44195, USA ; Anesthesia and Outcome Research, Department of General Anesthesia and Pain Management, Cleveland Clinic, 9500 Euclid Avenue, E-31, Cleveland, OH 44195, USA.
authors.forename: Hesham
authors.identifier: 0000-0003-1891-6060
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Elsharkawy
authors.affiliation: CCLCM of Case Western Reserve University, Cleveland Clinic, 9500 Euclid Avenue, E-31, Cleveland, OH 44195, USA ; Anesthesia and Outcome Research, Department of General Anesthesia and Pain Management, Cleveland Clinic, 9500 Euclid Avenue, E-31, Cleveland, OH 44195, USA.
authors.forename: Ehab
authors.identifier: 0000-0002-6740-4064
authors.initials: E
authors.lastname: Farag
authors.affiliation: Anesthesiology, Cleveland Clinic, 9500 Euclid Avenue, E-31, Cleveland, OH 44195, USA ; Anesthesia and Outcome Research, Department of General Anesthesia and Pain Management, Cleveland Clinic, 9500 Euclid Avenue, E-31, Cleveland, OH 44195, USA.
authors.forename: Kenneth
authors.identifier: 0000-0001-6166-8352
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Cummings
authors.affiliation: Outcome Research Department, Anesthesia Institute, Cleveland Clinic, 9500 Euclid Avenue, E-31, Cleveland, OH 44195, USA.
authors.forename: Gamal
authors.initials: G
authors.lastname: Eid
authors.affiliation: Anesthesiology, Cleveland Clinic, 9500 Euclid Avenue, E-31, Cleveland, OH 44195, USA.
authors.forename: Maria
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Mendoza
authors.affiliation: Anesthesiology, Cleveland Clinic, 9500 Euclid Avenue, E-31, Cleveland, OH 44195, USA.
authors.forename: Loran
authors.initials: L
authors.lastname: Mounir-Soliman
authors.affiliation: Pain Management Department, Anesthesia Institute, Cleveland Clinic, 9500 Euclid Avenue, E-31, Cleveland, OH 44195, USA.
authors.forename: Richard
authors.identifier: 0000-0002-9067-9058
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Rosenquist
authors.affiliation: Anesthesiology, Cleveland Clinic, 9500 Euclid Avenue, E-31, Cleveland, OH 44195, USA ; CCLCM of Case Western Reserve University, Cleveland Clinic, 9500 Euclid Avenue, E-31, Cleveland, OH 44195, USA.
authors.forename: Wael
authors.initials: W
authors.lastname: Ali Sakr Esa
mesh_terms: D000368:Aged; D000554:Ambulatory Care Facilities; D002404:Catheterization / Q000009:adverse effects; D057785:Catheters / Q000009:adverse effects; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D009820:Ohio; D010525:Peripheral Nerves / Q000473:pathology*; D011183:Postoperative Complications / Q000209:etiology