Risks and benefits of regional anesthesia in the perioperative setting

This dissertation studied various risks and benefits of regional anaesthesia in the perioperative setting. In the Netherlands, the number of operations has increased from 1.1 to 1.4 million a year over the last decade. Therefore, the evaluation of optimal perioperative care including anaesthesia is highly important.
Although large studies are needed to show anaesthesia safety, recommendations for practice are often based on small studies.
Comparing regional with general anaesthesia is a limited approach which underestimates the potential benefits of combined techniques in high-risk populations. Another aspect is the development of improved postoperative pain management programmes for specific operations. Catheter functioning, for instance, can be affected by material characteristics. Until recently, no systematic studies were needed to obtain a European hallmark (CE hallmark) but the results of this study show the need for these types of studies.