Mechanisms of regional anaesthesia protection against hyperalgesia and pain chronicization

Regional anaesthesia is able to reduce postoperative acute hyperalgesia and long-term chronic pain by decreasing pain sensitization induced by the surgery itself, and intraoperative use and opioid-induced hyperalgesia. Nevertheless, clinical studies on neuraxial anaesthesia and nerve blocks did not bring so far a strong conclusion to this question, and further better designed studies are necessary.