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Updated: Oct 11, 2025
Author Spotlight: Treating Frozen Shoulder with Small Needle Knife Therapy
Published on: November 17, 2023
Suprascapular nerve block and axillary nerve block versus interscalene nerve block for arthroscopic shoulder surgery:
Changjiao Sun1, Xiaofei Zhang2, Xiaolin Ji3
1Department of Orthopedic, Beijing Tsinghua Changgung Hospital, School of Clinical Medicine, Tsinghua University, No.168 Litang Road, Dongxiaokou Town, Changping District, Beijing, China.
Background:
The interscalene brachial plexus block (ISB) is a commonly used nerve block technique for postoperative analgesia in patients undergoing shoulder arthroscopy surgery; however, it is associated with potentially serious complications. The use of suprascapular nerve block (SSNB) and axillary Nerve Block (ANB) has been reported as an alternative nerve block with fewer reported side effects for shoulder arthroscopy. This review aimed to compare the impact of SSNB and ANB with ISB during shoulder arthroscopy surgery.
Methods:
A meta-analysis was conducted to identify relevant randomized or quasirandomized controlled trials involving SSNB and ISB during shoulder arthroscopy surgery. We searched Web of Science, PubMed, Embase, Cochrane Controlled Trials Register, Cochrane Library, Highwire, CNKI, and Wanfang database from 2010 through August 2021.
Results:
We identified 641 patients assessed in 10 randomized or quasirandomized controlled trials. Compared with the ISB group, the SSNB+ANB group had higher visual analog scale or numerical rating scale in PACU (P = .03), 4 hour (P = .001),6 hour after the operation (P = .002), and lower incidence of complications such as Numb/Tingling (P = .001), Weakness (P <.00001), Horner syndrome (P = .001) and Subjective dyspnea (P = .002). No significant difference was found for visual analog scale or numerical rating scale 8 hour (P = .71),12 hour (P = .17), 16 hour (P = .38),1day after operation (P = .11), patient satisfaction (P = .38) and incidence of complications such as hoarseness (P = .07) and nausea/vomiting (P = .41) between 2 groups.
Conclusion:
Our high-level evidence has established SSNB+ ANB as an effective and safe analgesic technique and a clinically attractive alternative to interscalene block during arthroscopic shoulder surgery, especially for severe chronic obstructive pulmonary disease, obstructive sleep apnea, and morbid obesity. Given our meta-analysis's relevant possible biases, we required more adequately powered and better-designed randomized controlled trial studies with long-term follow-up to reach a firmer conclusion.
