Regional Anesthesia: Overview
Regional anesthesia involves the use of a variety of techniques to block nerves with local anesthetics. If the type of surgery is amenable to regional anesthesia, the patient would be able to stay “awake” during their surgery and airway manipulation can be avoided. Some regional anesthetic techniques can also be used for post-operative pain control. This chapter will focus on central neuraxial blockade.
Type of Regional Anesthesia
Examples
Central neuraxial blockade
Epidural, spinal, combined spinal-epidural (CSE)
Peripheral nerve blockade
Upper extremity: interscalene, supraclavicular, intraclavicular, axillary
Lower extremity: lumbar plexus, femoral nerve, sciateic nerve, popliteal nerve, ankle block
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