Pediatric Anaesthesia Associates offers a unique approach to anesthesia and pain management called regional anesthesia.

Our physicians are at the forefront of innovative practices in regional anesthesia- utilizing techniques such as an epidural catheter, caudal block, spinal block or a specific nerve block, to supplement or replace general anesthesia for a surgical procedure.

By placing numbing medicine near the nerves that supply the area being operated on we can temporarily ‘block’ sensation to that area of the body. These ‘nerve blocks’ may be performed using only a single injection or maintained for up to several days using a pain pump connected to either an epidural or peripheral nerve block catheter.

There are many advantages to using regional anesthesia including a lower anesthetic requirement, superior pain-control, and fewer side effects such as nausea and drowsiness. Regional Anesthesia also reduces the amount of narcotic pain medications required after surgery and decreases the overall stress response to surgery.

In children, regional anesthesia blocks are performed in the operating room after they are asleep.

Not all patients are candidates for regional anesthesia, and your anesthesiologist will discuss this with you before surgery.