“The PEC1 block was first described by Blanco in 2011 [Anaesthesia 2011;66(9):847-848],” said Maxim Roy, MD, a resident at the University of Montreal. “The goal of the technique is to block the medial and lateral pectoral nerves by injecting anesthetic between the pectoralis major and pectoralis minor muscles. One year later, the same author proposed a modification of this technique, called the PEC2 block.
“Since the description of these blocks, the vast majority of literature has evaluated the PEC2 block,” he noted. “However, nobody has really proven that the PEC1 block actually blocks the lateral and medial pectoral nerves. What’s more, no standardized test exists for objectifying the presurgical success of the PEC1 block.”