[Simplified locoregional anesthetic technique for the surgery of the thumb]

Finger surgery is a frequent procedure, of short duration unless in case of major trauma, and often performed in emergency circumstances. In order to improve this type of treatment, we have developed distal blockade techniques. The double innervation in the thumb requires two punctures; a) dorsal, in order to block the superficial branch of the radial nerve; b) palmar, through the flexor tendon sheath, allowing the blockade of the digital nerves, outing from the median nerve. We use bupivacaine 0.5% without adrenaline, which offers high quality anaesthesia and analgesia. This technique can be used outside the operating room, in emergency or X-ray rooms. It allows thumb anaesthesia, either alone for short duration or in an addition to a plexus blockade whose effect in the radial nerve area would be insufficient.