Prolonging peripheral nerve block duration: Current techniques and future perspectives

Peripheral nerve blocks are widely used for anaesthesia in upper and lower limb surgeries and as part of postoperative multimodal analgesia for various procedures. However, their primary limitation lies in their relatively short duration, which typically ranges from 8 to 14 h when using long-acting local anaesthetics such as ropivacaine or bupivacaine.1 Achieving longer-lasting effects has been a key area of research, leading to the exploration of various adjuncts,1, 2 liposomal bupivacaine3 and catheter-based techniques.