[Ultrasound imaging has a potential to exhibit biotechnical advance in perioperative pain management]

The perioperative pain management - instead of the efforts, guidelines and protocols - is underestimated and undertreated. Even in the case of general anaesthesia, the nervous system is overwhelmed by copious quantities of nociceptive stimuli at surgical incision. Stress and pain-modulation processes are triggered which can have significant influence on the outcome. Often the pain-management is discontinued, so a notable part of patients complain about pain in the ward after surgery. Regional anaesthesia conceptually prevents noxious inputs to enter the central nervous system, beyond surgical anaesthesia it is pertinent to achieve excellent analgesia in the immediate postoperative period as well. Based on current literature, this paper provides an overview of the history and role of regional anaesthesia in the multidimensional model of pain. Besides the sensitization caused by nociceptive stimuli - peripheral and central sensitization, descending modulation - there are several biopsychosocial factors involved in pain pathophysiology. Preventing the side effects of general anaesthesia, the ultrasound-guided peripheral nerve blockade is a safe technique with high success rate, rare side effects, achieving long-lasting, excellent analgesia. Continuous perineural catheter placed under ultrasound provides extended pain control. As a part of multimodal analgesia, peripheral nerve blockade prevents central sensitization. After surgery, the pain intensity of patients under peripheral nerve blockade is less, the chronification tendency is decreased, the quality of life and patients' comfort are improved, and the stress-response is attenuated. The greater part of patients are protected from the undesirable side effects of general anaesthesia. Nowadays, it is an unequivocal evidence that the increasingly used peripheral nerve blockades prior to incision are efficient tools in the prevention of chronic postoperative pain. Ultrasound guidance is suitable not only for surgical anaesthesia, but for postoperative pain management as well, however, besides economic factors, the main goal of this technique is to match the best interest of the patients. Orv Hetil. 2019; 160(15): 573-584.