title: Ultrasound-guided paravertebral block facilitated tracheal extubation in a 5-week-old infant with rib fractures and respiratory failure.
abstract: The use of regional anesthesia including paravertebral blocks has been advocated for the treatment of pain from rib fractures in adults. Although paravertebral nerve blocks have been used in pediatric patients to manage postoperative pain for surgeries to the thorax and abdomen, their use for analgesia after rib fractures and thoracic trauma has not been reported. We report the use of a T7 continuous paravertebral nerve block for pain relief in a 5-week-old, 5-kg infant who suffered T7 and T8 rib fractures and a pulmonary contusion to the left chest secondary to a gunshot wound.
authors.affiliation: From the Department of Anesthesiology, Perioperative, and Pain Medicine, Boston Children's Hospital, Boston, Massachusetts.
authors.forename: Nishanthi
authors.initials: N
authors.lastname: Kandiah
authors.forename: Kathryn
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Walker
authors.forename: Karen
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Boretsky