New peripheral nerve blocks and local anesthetics

Purpose of review To describe current developed regional blocks, their indications and clinical use. Furthermore, describe new local anesthetics recently introduced and the new agents in pipeline. Recent findings There are multiple new blocks recently developed with the introduction of ultrasound to regional anesthesia and studies demonstrate effect in different surgical procedures. However, majority of the studies do not compare with gold standard and are relatively small to change clinical practice. Some of these blocks are: erector spinae plane block, infiltration between the popliteal artery and capsule of the posterior knee, pectoral nerve blocks, quadratus lumborum and transversus abdominis plane block. New local anesthetics and adjuvants have been developed in recent years. However, the studies with even with the oldest one introduced Exparel is currently questioned, large future studies are needed to determine efficacy and safety profile and compared with conventional local anesthetics. Summary New regional block techniques and new local anesthetics have been introduced recently. However, the efficacy/safety and comparison to conventional techniques and local anesthetics are still needed. Future studies must focus on prolonging analgesia with least invasive regional technique and compare new local anesthetics with current ones.