In recent years, advances in regional anesthesia techniques have revolutionized perioperative multimodal analgesia (Anesthesiology 2018;129:721-32). Although, the utilization of regional anesthesia in the adult patient population is widespread, clinical practice of pediatric regional anesthesia (PRA) is still suboptimal. With increasing health care costs and the current opioid epidemic, PRA has an exceptional role in impacting quality and safety outcomes in this population (Br J Anaesth 2014;113:375-90).
According to the Pediatric Regional Anesthesia Network (PRAN) database, complications associated with PRA are very rare (Anesthesiology 2018;129:721-32). In a prospective cohort of more than 100,000 regional blocks in children, the rate of transient neurologic deficit was low (2.4 per 10,000), and no cases of permanent neurologic deficits were found. Incidence of local anesthesia systemic toxicity (LAST) was also low at 0.76 per 10,000 blocks (Anesthesiology 2018;129:721-32; Curr Pain Headache Rep 2017;21:11). Comparable safety results...