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Percutaneous peripheral nerve stimulation is used to provide analgesia for weeks or even months. While infection of any percutaneously implanted object is a concern, it is exceedingly rare for helically coiled leads, with a reported incidence of less than 1 infection for every 32,000 indwelling days. We now report an infected helically coiled lead requiring sedation for extraction and complicated by lead fracture during removal, leaving a remnant in situ. The infection was successfully treated with oral antibiotics. We speculate on the cause of this infection and propose steps to prevent this complication, including the avoidance of sling-to-lead insertion site overlap., Competing Interests: Conflicts of Interest: See Disclosures at the end of the article., (Copyright © 2022 International Anesthesia Research Society.)

We present a case series to demonstrate proof-of-concept for the off-label use of an auricular neuromodulation device-originally developed to treat symptoms associated with opioid withdrawal-to instead provide analgesia and opioid-sparing following knee and hip arthroplasties. Within the recovery room, an auricular neuromodulation device (near-field stimulator system 2 [NSS-2] Bridge, Masimo) was applied to 5 patients. Average daily pain at rest and while moving was a median of 0 to 2 as measured on the 0 to 10 numeric rating scale, while median daily oxycodone use was 0 to 2.5 mg until device removal at home on postoperative day 5. One patient avoided opioid use entirely., Competing Interests: Conflicts of Interest: See Disclosures at the end of the article., (Copyright © 2022 The Author(s). Published by Wolters Kluwer Health, Inc. on behalf of the International Anesthesia Research Society.)

Phantom limb pain is a common condition occurring after amputations. Percutaneous peripheral nerve stimulation (PNS) has been reported to provide analgesia for established lower extremity phantom pain. However, this modality has never been applied to upper extremity phantom pain. A patient presented with acute exacerbation of established upper extremity phantom pain 2 years following forequarter amputation. A percutaneous PNS lead placed adjacent to the patient's brachial plexus under ultrasound guidance provided analgesia of the phantom pain for several weeks. PNS of the brachial plexus may provide analgesia for patients with upper extremity phantom pain.

Renal colic is a common cause of pain; however, there have been few reports of treating this pain with regional anesthesia. We report on a 49-year-old man presenting with severe left flank pain resulting from a 4-mm stone in the left ureter. The pain was minimally responsive to intravenous opioids. Left-sided paravertebral blocks were performed at T7 and T9 with 10 mL bupivacaine 0.5% with epinephrine 2.5 µg/mL to each paravertebral space. The pain resolved over the following 30 minutes, and the patient was discharged home. No further pain was experienced before and while subsequently passing the stone.

A 46-year-old man presented with severe refractory posterior shoulder pain due to a left scapular fracture sustained during a motor vehicle collision. Despite multimodal oral and intravenous analgesics, the patient's pain remained difficult to control. A continuous paravertebral nerve block was performed between the second and third thoracic vertebrae resulting in excellent analgesia of the scapular pain. This case suggests that a continuous thoracic paravertebral block placed between the second and third vertebrae may be considered as part of multimodal analgesia in patients with scapular fractures.

The main purported benefit of suture-style catheters is the ability to secure the catheter at 2 sites, thereby decreasing the likelihood of catheter dislodgement. An additional benefit is the ability to precisely control the placement of the orifice to infuse local anesthetic. Here we present the case of a patient undergoing open ankle surgery for whom placement of a conventional through-the-needle popliteal sciatic perineural catheter for postoperative analgesia was attempted. Despite multiple attempts, the catheter repeatedly advanced beyond the nerve. Placement of a suture catheter was then attempted, and the catheter was successfully placed on the first attempt.

Pain after limb amputation is frequently challenging to adequately treat with local anesthetic-based regional anesthesia techniques due to its relatively long duration. Furthermore, uncontrolled pain in the immediate postoperative period is associated with persistent postsurgical pain, and frequently phantom limb pain. Cryoneurolysis is an alternative regional analgesic method to local anesthesia-based techniques. We report 3 cases in which ultrasound-guided percutaneous cryoneurolysis was performed in the perioperative period of limb amputation. All reported profound analgesia in the postoperative period without persistent postsurgical residual limb or phantom pain in the following months. No adverse events associated with the cryoneurolysis procedure occurred.