Journal of pain and symptom management
-
Local anesthetics administered to block nerve conduction for surgical anesthesia and to provide analgesia in management of acute pain have become a standard of anesthesiology practice. These drugs have had an important role in the multimodality management of chronic pain as well, and this role is expanding since the revival of systemic administration. ⋯ There is also evidence that intravenous local anesthetics can relieve acute pain. Furthermore, the novel idea that acute procedural and postprocedural pain control with local anesthetics could prevent the development of chronic pain syndromes, including chronic neuropathic pain syndromes, adds another important potential dimension to the role of local anesthetics in pain management.