Adjuvants in pain medicine. Selection of the drug depending on the desired effect – so which drug to choose?

Abstract

To date, much research has focused on finding the ideal adjuvant for local anesthetics. Each of them can have different effects. In anesthesiology and pain medicine, depending on the purpose, one or another effect may be desirable. For example, in some situations it is desirable to accelerate the onset of action or prolong the duration of the block, in others the desired effect may be a “response to intravascular administration”, it should also be borne in mind that not all adjuvants are allowed for intrathecal administration.

Keywords

• adjuvant
• local anesthetic
• regional anesthesia
• pain medicine
• conduction anesthesia