To investigate the anesthetic effect of wrist and elbow nerve block in hand surgery.

One hundred and twenty patients, with ASA classification beingⅠtoⅢgrade, who underwent hand surgery were divided into two groups, 60 patients in each. Wrist and elbow nerve block was used in group A, and interscalene brachial plexus block in group B. The anesthetics were the mixture of equal volumes of 0.75% ropivacaine and 2% lidocaine. The nerve block in each part of wrist and elbow was applied with 5 ml local anesthetic, totaling 30 ml, and the brachial plexus block was treated with 30 ml local anesthetic. The onset time of hand median nerve, ulnar nerve and its dorsal carpal branch and superficial branch of radial nerve was recorded. The differences of block rate and anesthetic efficacy between the two groups were compared and analyzed, and the complications were recorded.

Nerve block onset time of group A was significantly shorter than that of group B (P<0.01). The block rate of median nerve, ulnar nerve and dorsal carpal branch of ulnar nerve from group A was higher than that from group B, and there was no significant difference in block rate of superficial branch of radial nerve between two groups. The proportion of patients with excellent anesthetic effect in group A was higher than that in group B (P<0.01). There was no complication in group A, and there were 4 cases of complications in group B.

The wrist and elbow nerve block is simple with short onset time and good anesthesia effect. It is a safe and reliable method of nerve block for hand surgery.

Brachial plexus; Anesthesia; Nerve block; Interscalene; Ropivacaine