Neuraxial anaesthesia and peripheral nerve blocks during the COVID-19 pandemic: a literature review and practice recommendations.

ABSTRACT: Coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) has had a significant impact on global healthcare services. In an attempt to limit the spread of infection and to preserve healthcare resources, one commonly used strategy has been to postpone elective surgery, whilst maintaining the provision of anaesthetic care for urgent and emergency surgery. General anaesthesia with airway intervention leads to aerosol generation, which increases the risk of COVID-19 contamination in operating rooms and significantly exposes the healthcare teams to COVID-19 infection during both tracheal intubation and extubation. Therefore, the provision of regional anaesthesia may be key during this pandemic, as it may reduce the need for general anaesthesia and the associated risk from aerosol-generating procedures. However, guid

SUBMITTER: Uppal V 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC7267450 | biostudies-literature | 2020 Oct

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature