A comparative study of ultrasound-guided versus landmark-based femoral with sciatic nerve blocks in lower limb surgeries.

Abstract

Peripheral nerve blocks are widely used in lower limb surgeries to provide effective anesthesia and post-operative analgesia. Therefore, it is of interest to compare ultrasound-guided and landmark-based femoral with sciatic nerve block techniques in terms of success rate, onset time, duration of analgesia and complications. A prospective comparative study was conducted on 100 patients undergoing elective lower limb surgeries, divided equally into ultrasound-guided and landmark-based groups. Ultrasound-guided blocks demonstrated significantly faster onset, higher success rates, longer duration of analgesia and fewer complications compared to the landmark-based technique (p < 0.05). Thus, data shows that ultrasound guidance improves the safety, accuracy and overall efficacy of peripheral nerve blocks in clinical practice.