Regional Anesthesia Techniques in Orthopedic Surgery

Regional anesthesia techniques have been increasingly used in orthopedic surgery procedures. Regional anesthesia techniques can be classified as central neuraxial blocks including spinal and epidural anesthesia, peripheral nerve blocks including upper extremity and lower extremity blocks and regional intravenous anesthesia (RIVA) (Table 1). In many clinical studies have been reported that regional anesthesia techniques provided important advantages when compared with general anesthesia in orthopedic surgeries. Regional anesthesia techniques are not only performed for adequate anesthesia in the orthopedic surgical procedures. They have also other advantages including excellent postoperative pain control, reduced side effects, decreased blood loss, and shortened stay in the postanesthesia care unit (PACU) [1-5].