Like many American football fans, we were interested to read the widely reported news that an NFL quarterback sustained a “punctured lung” when a team doctor attempted a “pain killing injection” prior to the game.1 The player was reportedly admitted to the hospital thereafter and missed the game. While the exact nature of his fractures, analgesic block, and sequelae are unclear from the lay media, in light of this news we feel it is imperative to highlight the importance of performing these specialized regional anesthetic and analgesic techniques with image-guidance – essentially a standard of practice in anesthesiology.
While there are multiple regional anesthetic options for hospitalized patients, given the need to maintain high-level motor control to perform on the field as an elite athlete, the motor-sparing intercostal block is a reasonable choice to facilitate analgesia in this population.2,3 However, intercostal blocks, like other thoracic regional nerve blocks,...
