[Conduction anesthesia and analgesia in emergency cases. From pain to its treatment]

The study of pathophysiological and symptomatological characteristics of pain in emergency situations, and of its harmful consequences, shows that, in spite of a difficult context, analgesia is an essential part of the care to patients during the prehospital stage. Its prescription implies a good knowledge of analgesia techniques, including precise rules such as titration. The choice of analgesia must be the outcome of a rigorous step giving priority to the vital functions and associating several techniques. Regional anaesthesia is not very often used in prehospital emergency but rather in emergency units and in the surgical ward. Analgesia must be adapted, mainly to specific situations in emergency: children, old people, burned people with pain.