Locoregional anaesthesia in children

Regional anaesthesia has become an essential component of modern paediatric anaesthesia. The two principal applications of regional anaesthesia are its intraoperative use to supplement light general anaesthesia and postoperative use for pain management. Key factors in encouraging the use of regional anaesthesia techniques have probably been the favourable outcomes observed in children undergoing combined general and epidural anaesthesia for major surgery, the routine practice of caudal and peripheral blocks to provide painless emergence and the efficacy of pain relief they provide in chronic and oncology patients.