|
| Alison Estabrook, M.D., Director of the Comprehensive Breast
Center at St. Luke's-Roosevelt Hospital Center, recently began using paravertebral blocks, a type of regional anesthesia,
on patients receiving breast cancer surgery who prefer not to be put "completely under" with general
anesthesia. Paravertebral blocks are injections of local anesthesia in the back, about two inches lateral from the spine of the same side as the breast operation. The local anesthesia numbs the nerves to the breast at a point where the nerves have just exited from the spinal cord. The patient is given sedation and is monitored by the anesthesiologist, but the patient essentially naps during the procedure, rather then being unconscious as in the case with general anesthesia. With paravertebral blocks, the potential side effects of general anesthesia such as postoperative nausea and vomiting are avoided and patients feel no pain. Usually, the worst pain from breast cancer surgery occurs immediately after surgery. However, with the paravertebral block there is little or no pain, and any pain that does exist can be easily managed with medications. With paravertebral blocks, patients experience few side effects and all patients with successful blocks return to the ambulatory care unit, bypassing the recovery room. "The paravertebral block allows the patient to undergo major breast cancer surgery without having general anesthesia. The benefits of paravertebral block is that patients wake up without nausea, pain or sore throat. The paravertebral block lasts for over 16 hours, so the patient doesn't need any other analgesics in that time frame," notes Dr. Estabrook, who--along with her colleague, Jerry Vloka, M.D., an anesthesiologist--has issued many paravertebral blocks. If you would like more information about this procedure, please write to info@WeHealNewYork.org. |