Journal of Palliative Care & Medicine
Open Access

Case Report

Ultrasound-guided Phrenic Nerve Block for Intractable Hiccups in Patients with Metastatic Colon Cancer: A Case Report

Department of Anesthesia, Acute Pain and Regional Anesthesia at University of Maryland, Baltimore, MD, USA

*Corresponding Author:

Tiffani D Pittman
Department of Anesthesia
Acute Pain and Regional Anesthesia at University of Maryland, Baltimore
MD, 22 South Greene Street S11CO, Baltimore, MD, 21201
Tel: 301-405-1000
E-mail: tiffani.d.pittman@gmail.com

Received date: March 05, 2017; Accepted date: April 03, 2017; Published date: April 7, 2017

Citation: Pittman TD, DiStephano A, Chow R, Samet R (2017) Ultrasound-guided Phrenic Nerve Block for Intractable Hiccups in Patients with Metastatic Colon Cancer: A Case Report. J Palliat Care Med 7:302. doi: 10.4172/2165-7386.1000302

Copyright: © 2017 Pittman TD, et al. This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License, which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original author and source are credited.

Intractable hiccups can be a debilitating condition in cancer patients especially for those who have recently undergone thoracic or abdominal surgery and have tumor loads causing diaphragmatic irritation. The following case report details complete resolution of severe intractable hiccups due to an ultrasound guided phrenic nerve block in a patient with unresectable metastatic colon cancer. Ultrasound guided phrenic nerve block modification of the commonly performed interscalene brachial plexus may prove beneficial in relieving hiccups when medication therapy has failed or causes untoward side effects.

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