Small Animal Regional Anesthesia and Analgesia

Small Animal Regional Anesthesia and Analgesia is an up-to-date, complete resource for performing local anesthetic techniques in small animals.

Small Animal Regional Anesthesia and Analgesia

This practical, clinically oriented reference presents step-by-step procedures for performing common loco regional blocks and is organized logically by body system. The first book to draw information on this topic into one resource, Small Animal Regional Anesthesia and Analgesia is equally useful as a comprehensive reference and as a quick source of information with checklists and pictures to assist with performing various blocks in practice.

Beginning with introductory sections offering an overview of general considerations for patient preparation and pharmacology, the heart of the book is devoted to detailed instructions for performing regional anesthetic techniques, including reviews of the literature, useful illustrations, diagrams, and clinical tips. Small Animal Regional Anesthesia and Analgesia provides an invaluable tool for veterinary anesthesiologists and practitioners who incorporate local and regional anesthetic techniques into their small animal practices.

Small Animal Regional Anesthesia and Analgesia was written with a wide audience in mind. For many years, local and regional anesthesia in animals was considered to be an “art,” with techniques that were developed decades ago still being used without any particular attention being made to advancing the “science” behind the different procedures. Over the last 10 years, rapid advances in human regional anesthesia have started to carry over into veterinary medicine. Recently, many studies have been conducted in small animals to document, describe, and improve local and regional anesthetic blocks in our small animal patients.

The primary goal of this text is to put a large body of information in one place for the first time. Interest in regional anesthesia in animals is not limited to one particular geographic area; as a result, we have invited an international group of authors to share their experience and expertise with us. This text will hopefully have something for everyone – it can be used as a text with complete reference lists and extensive discussion of different topics, or as a quick source of information with procedural checklists, pictures, and diagrams to assist with performance of the various blocks. Our hope is this book will serve as the impetus to standardize the various procedures that are used clinically (so we are all speaking the same language when we talk about these blocks), and will stimulate continued interest in this particular sub specialty of anesthesia and pain management in veterinary medicine.