Of 16 studies that compared pain severity in ultrasound techniques and traditional localization techniques, eight found that ultrasound guidance improved analgesia and eight studies reported no difference. Only one study of the eight that found better outcomes with ultrasound guidance reported a decrease in numeric pain score greater than one.
Lead author Stephen Choi, MD, staff anesthesiologist at Sunnybrook Health Sciences Centre in Toronto, said a decrease in numeric pain scores of less than one probably means little to a patient.
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