[Knotting of a catheter in the plexus brachialis. A rare complication]

For the repair of an open injury to the hand, a continuous axillary block was performed in a 40- year-old male patient. Slight resistance was experienced during advancement of the catheter. Adequate surgical anaesthesia developed after the injection of 40 ml of a bupivacaine/prilocaine mixture. For postoperative analgesia an infusion of bupivacaine 0.25% was started. Three days later the removal of the catheter proved to be difficult due to a knot in the distal part of the catheter. This seems to be the first report of a knot in a catheter used for continuous axillary plexus block.