Local anesthesia is the simplest type of Regional anesthesia. When this anesthetic is injected around the area where the procedure is to be performed the area becomes numb. The operation is then started and the patient will not feel the pain during the procedure. The patient may feel like there is something moving in the area but this would not be painful. The duration of local anesthesia usually lasts about one to four hours depending on the amount and type of drug used.
Patients maybe prescribed with other painkillers in order to prevent pain after the procedure. Another type of regional anesthesia is Spinal anesthesia. It involves the injection of local anesthetics directly in the CSF (cerebrospinal fluid) which surrounds the spinal cord. The anesthetics then blocks the nerves in the spine causing the patient to feel numb from the waist, downward. The lower portion of the body is left weak and thus the patient’s legs will not be able to move during the procedure.
It usually lasts for about two to six hours depending on the drug that was used. The nurse should monitor the blood pressure because lowering of blood pressure is common with spinal anesthesia. Epidural anesthesia is done through injection of anesthetics directly in the space surrounding the spinal fluid sac. This space is known as epidural space. After the anesthetic is injected the nerves become numb. Pain relief is slow but blood pressure dropping has a lesser chance to occur.
A major advantage of these anesthetics is that the block can be maintained for a long period of time, even days after the operation maintaining an excellent pain relief operation. Nerve block is a more involved form of regional anesthesia. When anesthetics are injected into the area of the nerve involved in the procedure, the injected anesthetics blocks the nerve impulses that transmit pain in the brain. As a consequence of this, no pain produced. It has the benefit of decreasing the amount of other pain medications thereby limiting side effects and providing a better pain relief even after the operation.