Settled science or unwarranted variation in local anesthetic dosing? An analysis from an International Registry of Regional Anesthesiology

Abstract

BACKGROUND: Variation in clinical practice is often considered unwarranted when it does not reflect patient preference or evidence-based medicine. Complications from regional anesthesia such as nerve injury and systemic toxicity are dose dependent. It is currently unclear if there is significant variation with the dosing of local anesthetics (LA) in the context of the modern practice of peripheral regional anesthesia. METHODS: We analyzed data from the International Registry of Regional Anesthesia that include prospective data on peripheral regional anesthesia procedures from 21 centers located around the world. Using data from years 2011 to 2017, our primary aim was to characterize the degr..