The loco-regional anesthesia is a procedure of desensitization of the organism that differs from general anesthesia because instead of subjecting the whole body, it only acts on the area involved in the surgery.
Dr. Orazio Difrancesco, an anesthetist in Humanitas explains: “loco-regional anesthesia is used for peripheral areas of the body, i.e. the upper and lower limbs and the pelvic area. It is performed through the administration of local anesthetic drugs that desensitize the nerves that innervate the part of the body to be subjected to surgery.
What are the advantages of loco-regional anesthesia?
This type of anesthesia, compared to general anesthesia, requires the administration of infinitely smaller quantities of the drug, reducing patient discomfort.
Remember that post-operative vomiting, one of the most frequent side effects, is less experienced with loco-regional anesthesia and if present it is better tolerated.
Moreover, there are patients who have a rather high cardiovascular risk to undergo general anesthesia and thus it is preferable to perform interventions under loco-regional anesthesia. Wherever possible, I consider loco-regional anesthesia as the anesthesia of choice with respect to general anesthesia.
