The purpose of the study was to evaluate the effect of suprascapular nerve block (SSNB) in shoulder surgery. The study group
consisted of 260 patients, which were subjected to shoulder operations. The patients were divided into two equal groups: group
I with nerve block compared to a control group II without a nerve block. The mean age of the patients in group I was 56.2 ± 6.86 years
and that in group II was 54.5 ± 7.06 years. The female to male ratio was 71:59 in group I and was 69:61 in group II. Surgical
procedures were arthroscopic rotator cuff repair, arthroscopic subacromial decompression, arthroscopic acromioclavicular resection,
arthroscopic removal of calcific tendonitis, arthroscopic reconstruction of instability, arthroscopic capsular release and
shoulder replacement. In all cases the pain was documented by the visual analogue scale (VAS) preoperative, at the first,
the second as well as at the third day after surgery. In order to evaluate the amount of fluid, which is needed for infiltration
of the area of the supraspinatus fossa, we injected different amount of local anesthetic in combination with contrast dye
in five patients. In this study to document the fluid distribution, after injecting with different milliliters, 10 ml is proved
to be more than enough to have sufficient local anesthetic to block the SSN. Pre-operatively the mean VAS was comparable between
both groups. We documented a significant difference in favour of SSNB from day 1 to day 3 after surgery. No specific complications
due to this nerve block procedure were found in any patient post-operatively.
Keywords Suprascapular nerve block - Shoulder surgery - Perioperative pain management