Key result
Deep transthecal injection produces smaller anaesthetic area and shows no advantage over subcutaneous block.
Why the study?
The accuracy and efficacy of different digital block injection techniques, including transthecal and subcutaneous methods, were unclear.
Does a transthecal injection provide better digital block anaesthesia compared to a simple subcutaneous injection in healthy volunteers?
Does a transthecal injection provide better digital block anaesthesia compared to a simple subcutaneous injection in healthy volunteers?
A transthecal digital block offers no advantage over a simple subcutaneous digital block for obtaining digital anaesthesia.
Traditional transthecal injection may fail to confine anaesthetic within the sheath; leaves open whether deep injection improves clinical outcomes.
Three different methods of injection to obtain digital block anaesthesia were performed on 15 healthy volunteers to evaluate the success and extent of anaesthesia. We found that the traditional transthecal injection technique was inaccurate and the injected agent mainly flowed into the subcutaneous space, and did not remain within the sheath. The deep transthecal single injection kept the anaesthetic agent within the flexor tendon sheath, as intended. The duration of anaesthesia and the area anaesthetised by the subcutaneous injection and the traditional transthecal injection was similar and satisfactory. However, the anaesthetic area after the deep transthecal injection was significantly smaller than that of the other two techniques (P<0.01). A transthecal digital block offers no advantage over a simple subcutaneous digital block.
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Sonohata et al. (2009) studied Healthy volunteers (n=15). Transthecal injection (traditional and deep) vs. Subcutaneous injection was evaluated on Anaesthetic area (p=<0.01). Deep transthecal injection resulted in a significantly smaller anaesthetic area compared to traditional transthecal and subcutaneous injections (P<0.01), offering no advantage over subcutaneous block.
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