Safe method of supraclavicular brachial-plexus anesthesia.

Using the needle direction we devised, we applied brachial-plexus anesthesia in the supraclavicular approach originated by Kulenkampff to 561 patients 6 to 85 years of age. In this method, 20 ml of anesthetic was enough to obtain more than 95% anesthetic effect without any complications such as pneumothorax. Moreover, by using a long-acting drug (bupivacaine), we could get an effect lasting for more than 10 h, so that it was useful for long operations such as digital replantations, or for operations with severe postoperative pain.