Regional Anesthesia

Regional anesthesia is typically described and defined as the process of applying an anesthetic agent in such a manner as to render a specific segment, or region, of the body insensate (numb) for the purpose of performing surgical, diagnostic or therapeutic procedures.

This type of anesthesia can be used to numb small areas of the body, or a specific extremity or digit. Certain blocks can numb a finger, while others can numb the entire arm.

There are several types of regional anesthetics, but we’ll limit our discussions to the ones most commonly performed, and the ones you will most likely come in contact with:

Spinal Anesthesia

Epidural Anesthesia

IV Regional (Bier Block) Anesthesia

Nerve Blocks

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