The Desmoid Tumor Research Foundation

January 2024

Ultrasound-guided peripheral nerve blockade in high-intensity focused ultrasound ablation for extra-abdominal desmoid tumors: a case series

Author Information

Yini Chen # 1 2 3, Qian Yu # 1 2, Yanjun Xu 1 2, Guowei Qian 4, Yuanyi Zheng 1 2, Lixin Jiang 2 5, Bing Hu 1 2 3

1Department of Ultrasonography, Shanghai Sixth People's Hospital Affiliated to Shanghai Jiao Tong University School of Medicine, Shanghai, China. 2Shanghai Institute of Ultrasound in Medicine, Shanghai, China. 3Med-X Research Institute and School of Biomedical Engineering, Shanghai Jiao Tong University, Shanghai, China. 4Department of Oncology, Shanghai Sixth People's Hospital Affiliated to Shanghai Jiao Tong University School of Medicine, Shanghai, China. 5Department of Ultrasound, Renji Hospital, School of Medicine, Shanghai Jiao Tong University, Shanghai, China. #Contributed equally.

Publication

Quant Imaging Med Surg

Summary

Studies have suggested that HIFU can be used safely and effectively for treating desmoid tumors to eliminate viable tumors or to provide long-lasting control of tumor growth through repeated treatments. The treatment protocol in these studies required general anesthesia or conscious sedation with the intravenous administration of fentanyl and midazolam and caused more severe adverse events, including second-degree skin burns, nerve injury, and off-target heating compared with daily repeated HIFU treatment without sedatives or intravenous analgesics. US-guided peripheral nerve blockade (USg-PNB) has been widely accepted for providing local anesthesia in surgery and pain management in recent years. Many studies have reported that USg-PNB is a safe alternative that uses minimal amounts of local anesthetic and does not require hemodynamic monitoring or extended postprocedural observation. However, no reports of using USg-PNB during HIFU treatment have been published thus far. In this paper, we describe the usefulness and effectiveness of USg-PNB in the HIFU treatment of four patients with extra-abdominal desmoid tumors.

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