Randomized Prospective Comparison of Analgesic Efficacy of Peripheral Nerve Blockade Performed Prior to Surgical Intervention Versus Following Surgical Shoulder Repair

Interscalene brachial plexus blockade is commonly performed to provide relief of postoperative pain following surgical shoulder repair. This has proven to be a reliable means of reducing the required doses of intraoperative and postoperative opiates and effectively delaying postoperative pain, as well as hastening patient discharge and increasing patient satisfaction. Neural blockade has traditionally been performed prior to surgery with the hope that preemptive analgesia will most effectively abate postoperative pain. Recently, however, it has been argued that sensitization to pain can be attributed to many factors, not solely the nociceptive battery associated with incision and subsequent intraoperative events. The duration of action and effectiveness of the treatment modality thus appear play a more important role than the actual timing of the treatment delivered. The safety and efficacy of performing interscalene brachial plexus blockade under general anesthesia has recently been reported as being not only safe, but perhaps more effective than when performed in an awake patient. We propose a randomized prospective evaluation of the analgesic efficacy comparing interscalene brachial plexus blockade performed prior to surgery with interscalene brachial plexus blockade performed following the completion of of surgery in healthy ASA I and II adolescent patients undergoing unilateral shoulder reconstruction on an outpatient basis.