Papers of the Week

Traumatic injury is associated with severe pain that is often inadequately managed. Opioids remain the mainstay of pain management in this population because of their ease of use. However, opioids have significant side effects including nausea, delirium, and respiratory depression. Regional anesthesia has been demonstrated in the perioperative setting to provide superior analgesia with fewer side effects and a reduced length of stay. Similarly, regional anesthesia has been shown to improve morbidity for extremity fractures and dislocations when introduced early.