Introduction:

the brachial plexus block with a costoclavicular approach offers advantages as a single injection site, being a suitable site for continuous analgesia catheter placement.

Objective:

to identify the visibility of the 3 brachial plexus cords in the costoclavicular space according to the angulation of the arm.

Material and methods:

a descriptive and cross-sectional observational study was carried out; 99 healthy patients between 18 and 90 years of age were included, in a period of two months. Continuous variables were described, the nonparametric Friedman test was applied for K related samples, a linear regression was performed to confirm the correlation between the distance from the skin to the brachial plexus, weight and body mass index (BMI).

Results:

a smaller depth was found in relation to the skin plexus under abduction of the arm at an angulation of 90o and 110o, which allows an adequate sonoanatomical visualization of the brachial plexus at the costoclavicular level with statistical significance. Weight is an independent factor that determine the distance between the skin plexus depth.

Conclusions:

it was determined that the ultrasound-guided costoclavicular block approach is anatomically feasible with greater clinical efficacy, which concludes to be an innovative and safe anatomical site.