Background. One of the methods of symptomatic treatment of the cervico-brachial neuralgia, called shoulder pain syndrome (SPS), regardless of the cause of the complaint, is the suprascapular nerve block (SNB).
The aim of the study was to evaluate the long-term effctiveness of SNB performed with lidocaine (LID) and betametazone (BET), assessed using the Visual Analogue Scale (VAS).
Material and methods. The study covered 18 people with SPS. The prognostic block was performed with 10 ml 1% LID (the first phase - Ph I), and after obtaining VAS < 5, in the second phase (Ph II), with 10 ml of the mixture of 1% LID and 7 mg BET. Pain intensity was assessed by VAS before the block, ½ hour after, and every 4 weeks, to final observation in the twentieth week. Statistical analysis included descriptive statistics, paired-samples t-Student test. The p < 0.05 was considered as statistically significant.
Results. The initial mean VAS F I results were 6.83 (SD = 0.76); after SNB they decreased to 2.69 (SD = 1.13) (p < 0.05), and remained at the level lower than 5 for 9.28 days (SD = 6,65) at average. The time of VAS > 5 occurrence was inversely proportional to the duration of the disease. During Ph II, the initial mean VAS values were 6.34 (SD = 0.61), while after SNB, they equalled 1.4 (SD = 1.1), (p < 0.05) and pain intensity was 2,41 (SD = 1,45) at average. The SNB efficiency is connected with a relatively easy technique of performing the procedure. The inverse proportion of the disease duration and the period of analgesia may be related to the phenomenon of pain chronization.
Conclusions. Suprascapular nerve block may be an effective method of the long-term treatment in SPS. Application of the mixture of LID and BET gave a decrease in pain intensity in 88.8% of the patients.