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CC BY-NC-ND 4.0 · Journal of Clinical Interventional Radiology ISVIR 2023; 07(02): 122-125
DOI: 10.1055/s-0042-1751251
Case Series

Ultrasound-guided Glossopharyngeal Nerve Block—A New Paradigm in Pain Management

Mukesh K. Yadav
1   Departments of Radiodiagnosis & Interventional Radiology, Dr. B R Ambedkar Institute Rotary Cancer Hospital, All India Institute of Medical Sciences, New Delhi, India
,
Vishnu Prasad Pulappadi 
1   Departments of Radiodiagnosis & Interventional Radiology, Dr. B R Ambedkar Institute Rotary Cancer Hospital, All India Institute of Medical Sciences, New Delhi, India
,
Vikram Pratap Singh
2   Departments of Onco-anaesthesiology & Palliative Medicine, Dr. B R Ambedkar Institute Rotary Cancer Hospital, All India Institute of Medical Sciences, New Delhi, India
,
Sachidanand J. Bharati
2   Departments of Onco-anaesthesiology & Palliative Medicine, Dr. B R Ambedkar Institute Rotary Cancer Hospital, All India Institute of Medical Sciences, New Delhi, India
,
Barun Bagga
1   Departments of Radiodiagnosis & Interventional Radiology, Dr. B R Ambedkar Institute Rotary Cancer Hospital, All India Institute of Medical Sciences, New Delhi, India
3   New York University School of Medicine, New York, United States
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Abstract

We report eight cases of oropharyngeal carcinoma in which ultrasound-guided percutaneous distal glossopharyngeal nerve (GPN) block was performed for pain relief. Mean age of the patients was 52 ± 11.5 [SD] years and median baseline pain score was 7 (IQR, 5–8). Under ultrasound guidance, mixture of ropivacaine and dexamethasone was injected into parapharyngeal space. Pain reduced after four weeks in all patients (median [IQR], 4 [2.5–5]). Median quality of life score improved as compared with baseline in physical health (63 [44–69] vs 50 [44–63]) and psychological domains (56 [56–63] vs 50 [50–63]), reduced in social relationships domain (31 [19–44] vs 44 [31–44]), remained same in environment domain (56 [44–69] vs 56 [56–56]). Seven patients showed improvement on Patients' Global Impression of Change scale, while six showed improvement on Clinical Global Impressions scale. These early results show that ultrasound guided distal GPN block can reduce pain intensity in oropharyngeal carcinoma patients.

Keywords

glossopharyngeal nerve - nerve block - ultrasonography


Publication History

Article published online:
19 July 2022

© 2022. Indian Society of Vascular and Interventional Radiology. This is an open access article published by Thieme under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution-NonDerivative-NonCommercial License, permitting copying and reproduction so long as the original work is given appropriate credit. Contents may not be used for commercial purposes, or adapted, remixed, transformed or built upon. (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/)

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