Overview

Skin donor sites in patients undergoing split-thickness skin grafting surgeries can be very painful postoperatively. This site is most often the anterolateral thigh, the pain at which location can traditionally be covered by a fascia iliaca nerve block, although that comes with the disadvantage of losing motor functions in the femoral nerve distribution. The LAM nerve block, which is relatively new, aims to provide analgesia in the distribution of the lateral and anterior femoral cutaneous nerves. In short, this nerve block would decrease the sensation of the anterolateral thigh area without affect the motor function of the leg. We aim to study the consistency and coverage size of sensation changes by mapping out the area after the block in each patient.

Eligibility

Inclusion Criteria:

1. 18 years or older
2. Scheduled surgery for STSG w/ donor site coming from thigh
3. Care team requests LAM nerve block
4. Anticipated postop pain in the cutaneous areas of anterior and lateral thigh

   Exclusion Criteria:

5. Inability to communicate sensation or motor changes in their body
6. Preexisting sensory or motor deficits in the femoral nerve distribution
7. Contraindication to the medication used or a peripheral nerve block, such as allergy to amide local anesthetics, severe liver dysfunction, injection site infection etc
8. Pregnancy
9. Prisoners
10. Non-English Speaking/reading
11. Surgeries with anticipated or actual duration of 6 hours or longer
12. TBSA 20% or greater
13. Severe distracting injuries/polytrauma (e.g., large or significant bone fractures)