A Complete Overview of Nerve Block Techniques in Anesthesia
Modern surgical methods, changing patient needs and the emergence of minimally invasive procedures have led to an increase in outpatient treatments. Due to this demand, analgesia and anesthesia therapies have also improved.
Today, anesthesia makes it possible to undergo the most complex procedures in intensive care units that last for hours to minor surgeries in OPD setups. Almost anyone can receive anesthesia, from premature babies to frail elderly patients. Today, anesthesia is considered safe, versatile and indispensable for patient care. Let’s review various types of anesthesia and their limitations:
In this procedure, the whole body is anesthetized to induce a coma-like state of unconsciousness. The most common application of general anaesthesia is during major surgeries such as heart surgery, knee replacements, and cancer treatment when it is safer and more comfortable for the patient to remain unconscious. While it provides comfort to the patient and surgeon, general anaesthesia helps to relieve muscular tension.
Due to the usage of high dosages of anaesthetic, this procedure poses the risk of inhalation of gastric contents. The process remains long, intricate, and expensive with some common side effects like nausea, vomiting and sore throat due to intubation.
The term regional anesthesia refers to numbing a region or portion of the body (limited area) with a local anesthetic that is injected near the nerves leading to that area. Regional anesthesia can be further classified as follows:
In this type of anesthesia, a small dose of the drug is injected with a needle directly into the fluid surrounding the spinal cord, inside the subarachnoid space (lumbar spine). It effectively blocks motor and sensory functions and causes rapid numbing action in the lower half of the patient. Spinal anesthesia is therefore commonly used in suegeries below umbilical region, which includes the pelvis, lower abdomen and lower extremities.
Despite its ease of execution and high success rate, this procedure can further expose the patient to irritation, nerve root trauma, and hemodynamic consequences. In addition, this type of anesthesia cannot be used as postoperative analgesia.