regional anesthesia
Noun: A type of medical anesthesia that causes a loss of feeling (sensation) in a specific, limited area of the body. This is achieved by applying an anesthetic drug to a cluster of nerves that supply sensation to that target region, effectively blocking pain signals from that area while the patient remains conscious.
Regional anesthesia is used to perform surgeries or procedures on a specific body part without the need for general unconsciousness. It is commonly employed for operations on limbs, the lower abdomen, or during childbirth. - The patient opted for regional anesthesia for his knee surgery so he could avoid the side effects of general anesthesia. - Regional anesthesia, such as a spinal block, is frequently used during cesarean sections.
- Diagnostic/Therapeutic Use: Sometimes, regional anesthesia is used not just for surgery but also to diagnose the source of pain or to provide prolonged pain relief (therapeutic nerve block).
- The doctor performed a regional anesthesia block to determine if the patient's chronic leg pain was nerve-related.
- Regional anaesthesia (noun): The British English spelling.
- Conduction anesthesia (noun): A more technical synonym emphasizing the blocking of nerve conduction.
- Nerve block (noun): A common specific type of regional anesthesia targeting a single nerve or nerve plexus.
- Epidural anesthesia (noun): A specific type of regional anesthesia injected into the epidural space of the spine, often for childbirth or lower body surgery.
- Spinal anesthesia (noun): A specific type of regional anesthesia injected into the cerebrospinal fluid in the spinal canal.
- Conduction anesthesia
- Nerve block anesthesia
- Local anesthesia (Note): While related, "local anesthesia" typically refers to numbing a very small, specific area (e.g., a tooth), whereas "regional anesthesia" affects a larger area supplied by a major nerve or group of nerves.
- General anesthesia: Anesthesia that induces a state of controlled unconsciousness and loss of sensation throughout the entire body.
- Conscious sedation: A minimally depressed level of consciousness where the patient can respond to verbal commands, but pain control may be partial or supplemented.
- Anesthetic agent: The drug used to cause the loss of sensation.
- Loss of sensation: The primary effect of the anesthesia.
- Nerve supply: Refers to the nerves providing feeling to a body region, which are the target of the anesthetic.
- loss of sensation in a region of the body produced by application of an anesthetic agent to all the nerves supplying that region (as when an epidural anesthetic is administered to the pelvic region during childbirth)