Image-Guided Nerve Blocks

The term nerve block or neurolysis represents temporary or permanent termination of nerve conduction for pain relief. Traditionally, nerve block procedures were conducted without image guidance by using surface marking and anatomical landmarks. Since it involves the administration of alcohol or ablative instruments, it becomes imperative to avoid inadvertent injury to vital structures in the vicinity. Image guidance in procedures enables tract visualization and target site selection more accurately as compared to conventional blind techniques. Thus, they have been widely accepted and incorporated into the pain relief protocol of the world health organization (WHO) ladder as well. The procedures can be categorized into two types based on the target site which include neuraxial and peripheral nerve blocks. While the former includes spinal, epidural, and specific ganglion blocks, peripheral blocks include target for specific nerves along the extremities. This chapter discusses the basic concepts of the commonly performed image guided nerve blocks.