Application Detail

Status

Closed

Description of Medical Service

Ultrasound imaging is used in a variety of clinical situations, to improve patient safety during anaesthesia for a wide range of surgical procedures. In particular it is used to assist vascular access procedures, and local anaesthetic nerve blockade.

Description of Medical Condition

Ultrasound scanning has two main applications in anaesthesia practice. It is used to accurately localise major blood vessels, for the purpose of vascular catheterisation, and to localise individual nerves, for the purpose of local anaesthetic blockade. The ability to view the target vessel/nerve in real time, as opposed to blind injection based on knowledge of anatomy (which can vary), improves the safety of such procedures, by decreasing the probability of inadvertent damage to the vessel/nerve, and other nearby anatomical structures. These complications of inadvertent needle placement can be life-threatening. Ultrasound also provides benefits by increasing the success rate of such procedures, in comparison to blind techniques.

Reason for Application

-

Medical Service Type

-

Previous Application Number

Not Applicable

Associated Documentation

Application Form

-

PICO Confirmation

13 – 14 December 2012
Final Protocol (PDF 1138 KB)
Final Protocol (Word 1399 KB)

Assessment Report

Assessment Report (PDF 1440 KB)
Assessment Report (Word 1067 KB)

Public Summary Document

Public Summary Document (PDF 725 KB)
Public Summary Document (Word 145 KB)

Meetings for this Application

PASC

16 to 17 August 2012
13 to 14 December 2012

ESC

8 to 10 October 2014

MSAC

26 to 28 November 2014