Safety and Efficiency of Ultrasound-guided Intermediate Cervical Plexus Block for Carotid Surgery

From April 2011 to May 2013, all patients undergoing a carotid endarterectomy were informed of the study and prospectively included. The study was approved by our institutional ethical Review Board (CEPAR, Institut Mutualiste Montsouris Paris France). Oral consent was obtained from patients. Written informed consent of the patients to participate was not necessary according to the French law regarding observational study.

The anesthesiologist in charge of the patient recorded all the parameters of the ultrasound-guided intermediate cervical plexus block: facility and duration of block performance, local anesthetic volume, quality of anesthesia and surgical dissection, and adverse effects of the intermediate CPB. . Neurological status was assessed intraoperatively, in the postoperative setting and at one month after the procedure. Perioperative hemodynamic stability (intraoperative non invasive blood pressure variations) and pulse oxymetry were recorded. As well as ECG and cardiac Troponin I (cTnI) measurments performed the day before surgery and each morning during the 3 first postoperative days. Any clinical coronary or neurological event was recorded at one month.

Statistical analysis was performed on Prism 6 for Mac OS X (Version 6.0c, www.graphpad.com). Data are presented as mean ± standard deviation (SD) for continuous data and number (percentage) for categorical data.