infiltration of nerve

I was in the hospital and was given IV antibiotics for 4 days.  the IV was in the area on other side of elbow where you bend your arm.  After 3 days nurse checked site at elbow bend and noticed swelling and redness plus I had pain, tingling and numbness shooting down to fingers.  It is much worse and not sure what to do.  I can't stretch my arm and even when I touch lightly, I have a shooting pain from elbow to fingers, especially thumb, pointer and middle fingers.  Help!

[Dr Sharma]

Hi there. I would think of two possibilities, one is superficial thrombophlebitis of the vein, which could cause pain and stiffness in the arm and elbow. The edema due to inflammation could cause adjoining median nerve irritation. The other is the extravasation of the antibiotic in the local surrounding tissue causing burning and nerve irritation. You need to consult a neurologist for evaluation and get a nerve conduction velocity study of median nerve to check its function. Superficial thrombophlebitis is inflammation of a vein due to a blood clot in a vein just below skin. It usually occurs due to injury to the vein or recent use of an intravenous catheter.  Certain risk factors are infection, clotting abnormalities, etc with symptoms of inflamed overlying skin, warm, tender, and hardened vein. Certain tests would be required as advised by your surgeon including, Doppler ultrasound and venography. Treatment includes elevating the hand and applying warm compress to the area, I assume there is no intravenous catheter in situ and if, kindly get it removed. Certain medicines like NSAIDs would reduce inflammation, clot-dissolving medicines if deeper clots are present. Very rarely would a surgical removal be required. Hope this helps. Take care.