Abstract
We recently performed the ultrasound-guided stellate ganglion block (US SGB). However, there has been no study for a comparison of the expert landmark SGB and US SGB. We prospectively studied the effect of each SGB method. We performed each with local anesthesia mixed with contrast medium. After the blocks, we evaluated contrast images with CT-like imaging and measured bilateral forefingers' blood flow with radical pulse oximeters and effects and side effects. In total, 17 patients are satisfied with the inclusion criteria for this study. We divided the patients into two groups, 9 in the landmark group and 8 in the US group. We confirmed every SGB procedure accurately from contrast images. And there is no significant difference in the blood flow of forefingers or in clinical effects and side effects after SGB between the two groups. In this study, we suggested no significant difference between the expert landmark SGB and the US SGB.
