Hadzic's Regional Anesthesia > Part III. Clinical Practice of Regional Anesthesia > Section Six. Blocks for the Lower Extremity > Chapter 37. Sciatic Nerve Block Elizabeth Gaertner, MD, Elisabeth Fouché, MD, Olivier Choquet, MD, Admir Hadzic, MD, Jerry D. Vloka, MD

Sciatic Nerve Block: Introduction

"Victor Pauchet first described the sciatic nerve block in L'Anesthésie Régionale in 1920: "the site of needle insertion for blocking the sciatic nerve at the level of hip: 3 cm along the perpendicular that bisects a line drawn between the greater trochanter and the posterior superior iliac spine."¹ Although this technique is referred to as "The classic approach of Labat," it was in fact first described by Labat's teacher, Pauchet. Perhaps the reason for the name designation comes from the fact that the sciatic nerve block was first described in anesthesia literature in 1923 by Gaston Labat in his book, Regional Anesthesia: Its Technic and Clinical Application.² Of note, Labat in the same year founded the American Society of Regional Anesthesia (ASRA). Anecdotally, Labat intended to name the new group "the Labat Society" in his honor, but the name ASRA remains today as we know it. Labat's book went through several reprintings of the first edition and was one of the first English language anesthesia textbooks of regional anesthesia in the United States. Curiously, this book was similar to L'Anesthésie Régionale, written by Labat's tutor, Pauchet, from 1918 to 1920 in the University of Paris.Indications for sciatic nerve block include lower-limb surgery, often combined with a femoral or psoas compartment block.⁸ For distal surgery of the lower extremity, however, more distal approaches such as ankle block or popliteal sciatic nerve block are preferable when feasible. Note that..."