ABSTRACT
INTRODUCTION Of the available strategies for treatment of the patient in pain, regional anesthesia remains one of the cornerstones of therapy. While the techniques of regional anesthesia have been common knowledge for decades, there is increasing evidence of the beneficial effects of these techniques. Regional anesthesia has been shown to decrease the incidence of deep venous thrombosis, pulmonary embolism, pneumonia, transfusion requirements, respiratory depression, myocardial infarction, renal failure, and overall mortality (1). Studies have also shown that in select operations, a postoperative pain control regimen with regional anesthesia is superior in terms of pain control but also has the advantage of lower cost while sustaining improvements in morbidity and mortality (2,3).
