Treatment of patients with painful blind eye using stellate ganglion block

BACKGROUND AND OBJECTIVES: management of pain in painful blind eyes is still a challenge. Corticosteroids and hypotensive agents, as well as evisceration and enucleation, are some of the strategies employed so far that are not always effective and, depending on the strategy, cause a deep emotional shock to the patient. Given these issues, the aim of this case report is to demonstrate a new and viable option for the management of such pain by treating the painful blind eye with the stellate ganglion block technique, a procedure that has never been described in the literature for this purpose. CASE REPORT: six patients with painful blind eye, all caused by glaucoma, were treated; in these patients, VAS (visual analogue scale for pain assessment, in which 0 is the absence of pain and 10 is the worst pain ever experienced) ranged from 7 to 10. We opted for weekly sessions of stellate ganglion block with 4 mL of bupivacaine (0.5%) without vasoconstrictor and clonidine 1 mcg/kg. Four patients had excellent results at VAS, ranging between 0 and 3, and two remained asymptomatic (VAS = 0), without the need for additional medication. The other two used gabapentin 300 mg every 12 h. CONCLUSION: currently, there are several therapeutic options for the treatment of painful blind eye, among which stand out the retrobulbar blocks with chlorpromazine, alcohol and phenol. However, an effective strategy with low rate of serious complications, which is non-mutilating and improves the quality of life of the patient, is essential. Then, stellate ganglion block arises as a demonstrably viable and promising option to meet this demand.

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Main Authors: Xavier,Tatiana Vaz Horta, Oliveira,Thiago Robis de, Mendes,Tereza Cristina Bandeira Silva
Format: Digital revista
Language:English
Published: Sociedade Brasileira de Anestesiologia 2016
Online Access:http://old.scielo.br/scielo.php?script=sci_arttext&pid=S0034-70942016000100075
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spelling oai:scielo:S0034-709420160001000752016-02-15Treatment of patients with painful blind eye using stellate ganglion blockXavier,Tatiana Vaz HortaOliveira,Thiago Robis deMendes,Tereza Cristina Bandeira Silva Eye pain Pain management Nerve block BACKGROUND AND OBJECTIVES: management of pain in painful blind eyes is still a challenge. Corticosteroids and hypotensive agents, as well as evisceration and enucleation, are some of the strategies employed so far that are not always effective and, depending on the strategy, cause a deep emotional shock to the patient. Given these issues, the aim of this case report is to demonstrate a new and viable option for the management of such pain by treating the painful blind eye with the stellate ganglion block technique, a procedure that has never been described in the literature for this purpose. CASE REPORT: six patients with painful blind eye, all caused by glaucoma, were treated; in these patients, VAS (visual analogue scale for pain assessment, in which 0 is the absence of pain and 10 is the worst pain ever experienced) ranged from 7 to 10. We opted for weekly sessions of stellate ganglion block with 4 mL of bupivacaine (0.5%) without vasoconstrictor and clonidine 1 mcg/kg. Four patients had excellent results at VAS, ranging between 0 and 3, and two remained asymptomatic (VAS = 0), without the need for additional medication. The other two used gabapentin 300 mg every 12 h. CONCLUSION: currently, there are several therapeutic options for the treatment of painful blind eye, among which stand out the retrobulbar blocks with chlorpromazine, alcohol and phenol. However, an effective strategy with low rate of serious complications, which is non-mutilating and improves the quality of life of the patient, is essential. Then, stellate ganglion block arises as a demonstrably viable and promising option to meet this demand.info:eu-repo/semantics/openAccessSociedade Brasileira de AnestesiologiaRevista Brasileira de Anestesiologia v.66 n.1 20162016-02-01info:eu-repo/semantics/articletext/htmlhttp://old.scielo.br/scielo.php?script=sci_arttext&pid=S0034-70942016000100075en10.1016/j.bjane.2012.12.009
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country Brasil
countrycode BR
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databasecode rev-scielo-br
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libraryname SciELO
language English
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author Xavier,Tatiana Vaz Horta
Oliveira,Thiago Robis de
Mendes,Tereza Cristina Bandeira Silva
spellingShingle Xavier,Tatiana Vaz Horta
Oliveira,Thiago Robis de
Mendes,Tereza Cristina Bandeira Silva
Treatment of patients with painful blind eye using stellate ganglion block
author_facet Xavier,Tatiana Vaz Horta
Oliveira,Thiago Robis de
Mendes,Tereza Cristina Bandeira Silva
author_sort Xavier,Tatiana Vaz Horta
title Treatment of patients with painful blind eye using stellate ganglion block
title_short Treatment of patients with painful blind eye using stellate ganglion block
title_full Treatment of patients with painful blind eye using stellate ganglion block
title_fullStr Treatment of patients with painful blind eye using stellate ganglion block
title_full_unstemmed Treatment of patients with painful blind eye using stellate ganglion block
title_sort treatment of patients with painful blind eye using stellate ganglion block
description BACKGROUND AND OBJECTIVES: management of pain in painful blind eyes is still a challenge. Corticosteroids and hypotensive agents, as well as evisceration and enucleation, are some of the strategies employed so far that are not always effective and, depending on the strategy, cause a deep emotional shock to the patient. Given these issues, the aim of this case report is to demonstrate a new and viable option for the management of such pain by treating the painful blind eye with the stellate ganglion block technique, a procedure that has never been described in the literature for this purpose. CASE REPORT: six patients with painful blind eye, all caused by glaucoma, were treated; in these patients, VAS (visual analogue scale for pain assessment, in which 0 is the absence of pain and 10 is the worst pain ever experienced) ranged from 7 to 10. We opted for weekly sessions of stellate ganglion block with 4 mL of bupivacaine (0.5%) without vasoconstrictor and clonidine 1 mcg/kg. Four patients had excellent results at VAS, ranging between 0 and 3, and two remained asymptomatic (VAS = 0), without the need for additional medication. The other two used gabapentin 300 mg every 12 h. CONCLUSION: currently, there are several therapeutic options for the treatment of painful blind eye, among which stand out the retrobulbar blocks with chlorpromazine, alcohol and phenol. However, an effective strategy with low rate of serious complications, which is non-mutilating and improves the quality of life of the patient, is essential. Then, stellate ganglion block arises as a demonstrably viable and promising option to meet this demand.
publisher Sociedade Brasileira de Anestesiologia
publishDate 2016
url http://old.scielo.br/scielo.php?script=sci_arttext&pid=S0034-70942016000100075
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