The Department of Anesthesiology, Perioperative and Pain Medicine at Brigham and Women’s Faulkner Hospital provides general, regional and sedation anesthetics, including all manner of ultrasound-guided peripheral nerve blocks and continuous catheters, as well as vascular access line placements. Nerve blocks induce numbness at the surgical site. Scientific studies have repeatedly shown that postoperative pain and stress are dramatically reduced if a nerve block is part of the anesthetic. Ultrasound guidance demonstrates a real-time picture of the nerves involved with respect to the needle used to administer the block. Ultrasound thereby diminishes the time required to perform a block while improving its success rate. Nerve blocks are not indicated for every type of surgery.
When surgery is associated with prolonged or severe pain, Brigham and Women’s Faulkner Hospital anesthesiologists may place epidural or peripheral nerve catheters to provide postoperative pain relief for several days without the risk of nausea and sedation that can accompany more conventional analgesics.
