Hadzic's Regional Anesthesia > Part II. Foundations of Regional Anesthesia > Section Two. Pharmacology > Chapter 7. Newer Amide Local Anesthetics & Sustained-Release Local Anesthetics Clint E. Elliott, MD, Leslie C. Thomas, MD, Alan C. Santos, MD

Newer Amide Local Anesthetics: Introduction

"The use of regional anesthesia has been increasing not only in obstetrics, where it is the predominant anesthetic technique used, but also during surgery and for acute postoperative pain management. This has been partly due to the safety of regional anesthesia because of better injection techniques and equipment, increased attention to detecting (preventing) misplaced injection, greater vigilance/monitoring, and the introduction of newer long-acting amide local anesthetics. The increasing demand for regional anesthesia is nowhere more true than in obstetric anesthesia, where local anesthetics have become the most frequently administered drugs for obstetric pain relief or cesarean delivery. When injected epidurally or intrathecally, local anesthetics provide effective labor analgesia that is superior to that of systemic opioids and without the attendant risks of maternal sedation and neonatal depression. Regional anesthesia is now the most frequently used technique for cesarean section delivery in the U.S.¹..."