[Regional anaesthesia--whether or not?]

Regional anesthesia is very popular in "Dr. Ivo Pedisić" General hospital Sisak. All the staff know the techniques, surgeons and patients accept it very well, despite still existing prejudice. The aim of the study was to explore the use of regional anesthesia during one year period, in 2003, the reasons for not performing it, as well as the prevalence of complications, also its impact on the number of patients who postoperatively required the surveillance in the intensive care unit (ICU), and finally to compare the costs of the surgery in regional vs. general anesthesia. Regional anesthesia was performed very often (69%), for different operations, without any serious complication. Regional anesthesia showed good impact on the need for postoperative surveillance in the ICU that was significantly lower (p < 0.0001, Chi square test), as well as three times lower costs, realizing the savings of one modem anesthetic machine during one-year period (228.202,72 kn). The results of the study confirm all the benefits of regional anesthesia.