Regional anesthesia and pain medicine
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Reg Anesth Pain Med · Apr 2020
Review Historical ArticleHistory and evolution of regional anesthesiology and acute pain medicine fellowship training.
In 2016, individual training programs in regional anesthesiology and acute pain medicine (RA/APM) became eligible for accreditation by the Accreditation Council for Graduate Medical Education (ACGME), thereby culminating a process that began 15 years earlier. Herein, we review the origins of regional anesthesia training in the USA, the events leading up to accreditation and the current state of the fellowship. ⋯ The history of RA/APM training in the USA is a tortuous one. It began with short 'apprenticeships' under the tutelage of the early proponents of regional anesthesia and continues today with 84 official RA/APM programs and a robust fellowship directors' group. RA/APM programs teach skills essential to the practice and improvement of anesthesiology as a specialty.
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Reg Anesth Pain Med · Apr 2020
ReviewTechnical considerations for approaches to the ultrasound-guided maxillary nerve block via the pterygopalatine fossa: a literature review.
Blockade of the trigeminal nerve and its branches is an effective diagnostic tool and potential treatment of facial pain. Ultrasound-guided injections in the pterygopalatine fossa (PPF) to block the trigeminal nerve divisions and sphenopalatine ganglion have been described but a consensus has yet to be reached over the ideal approach. We sought to delineate and compare the various approaches to the ultrasound-guided trigeminal divisions blockade via the PPF. ⋯ These studies demonstrated that the PPF is a readily accessible target for the ultrasound-guided maxillary nerve block via three main approaches.2 The ideal approach is yet to be determined and must be further explored.