Recent advancements in regional anaesthesia

Abstract

Patient safety, improved quality of care, and better patient satisfaction and functional outcomes are currently the topmost priorities in regional anaesthesia (RA) and all advancements in RA move in this direction. Ultrasonography-guided central neuraxial and peripheral nerve blocks, intracluster and intratruncal injections, fascial plane blocks, diaphragm-sparing blocks, use of continuous nerve block techniques, and continuous local anaesthetic wound infiltration catheters are now topics of popular clinical interest. The safety and efficacy of nerve blocks can be improved with the help of injection pressure monitoring and the incorporation of advanced technology in the ultrasound machine and needles. Novel procedure-specific and motor-sparing nerve blocks have come up. The anaesthesiologist of the current era, with a good understanding of the sonoanatomy of the target area and the microarchitecture of nerves, along with the backup of advanced technology, can be very successful in performing RA techniques. RA is rapidly evolving and revolutionising the practice of anaesthesia.

Keywords

• catheters
• local anaesthetics
• needles
• nerve block
• spinal anaesthesia
• ultrasonography