Stellate Ganglion

I have been doing several pain injections during clinical. In addition to SI joint injections, I have been doing some Stellate Ganglion injections. A Stellate Ganglion Injection is an injection of local anesthetic in the "sympathetic nerve tissue." These nerves are located in the neck, bilaterally around C6-C7. The purpose of these injections are to reduce pain, swelling, and sweating changes in the upper extremity and to improve mobility. These injections are usually done as a series with up to 10 injections per patient. The patient that I have been working with is experiencing pain in her left arm/elbow after her arm was smashed in a car door. This procedure is set up like most pain injections and the local anesthetic is injected directly into the patient’s neck. The patient has to stay very still once we scan the first series of images so that the doctor will be in the correct area. Occasionally the doctor will inject contrast to track the path of the medicine. This procedure looks very uncomfortable and sometimes the patient has to be sedated.