An analysis of threshold current of stimulation in interscalene brachial plexus block in children

Objective To analyze the threshold current of stimulation in interscalene brachial plexus block(BPB) with peripheral nerve stimulator(PNS) in children.Methods Interscalene BPB guided by PNS was performed in seventy-eight children scheduled for upper limbs surgery,and a Q- model hierarchical cluster analysis of the sample was carried out according to threshold current of stimulation.Sex,age,weight,height,threshold current of stimulation,time to acquirement of endpoint, effect of nerve block were compared during clusters.Results The samples were allocated into 2 clusters of with the threshold current of stimulation being 0.38-0.50 mA (35 cases) and with it being 0.20-0.37 mA(43 cases).Threshold current of stimulation was statistically different between the two clusters (P0.05),which was not correlated to sex,age,weight,height,time to acquirement of endpoint and effectiveness of nerve block.Conclusion Satisfied interscalene BPB can be obtained guided by PNS using a threshold current of stimulation ranged from 0.20 to 0.50 mA in children.