Local and Regional Anesthesia (Aug 2022)
Considerations for the Use of Local Anesthesia in the Frail Elderly: Current Perspectives
Abstract
Philippe Cuvillon, Jean Yves Lefrant, Yann Gricourt Staff Anesthesiologists, Department of Anesthesiology and Pain Management, Centre Hospitalo-Universitaire (CHU) Carémeau, Place du Professeur Debré, Nîmes, and Montpellier University 1, Montpellier, FranceCorrespondence: Philippe Cuvillon, Anesthesiologists, Department of Anesthesiology and Pain Management, Centre Hospitalo-Universitaire (CHU) Carémeau, Place du Professeur Debré, Nîmes, and Montpellier University 1, Montpellier, France, Tel +33 (1)4-66-68-30-50, Email [email protected]: The frail, elderly population is at a high risk of postoperative complications. Besides perioperative rehabilitation techniques and management by geriatric teams, the least invasive techniques in anesthesia are required, making regional anesthesia very interesting in terms of benefit-risk ratio. Among them, local anesthesia is a simple, reproducible, inexpensive technique applied to many superficial or deep surgeries, which should make it a gold standard for the frail person. This review provides an update on the current possibilities for various surgeries and exclusion.Keywords: local anesthesia, technique, surgery, frail population
