What use is there for regional anesthesia in burn patients?

Use of local/regional anesthesia in burn patients is limited by many factors. It is considered as marginal in the multimodal treatment of nociceptive pain. We conducted a retrospective study on regional anesthesia used for analgesia over a period of three years. Given the lack of available literature on this subject, the results obtained from this study will enable suggestions to be made for possible uses of this technique. We identified 634 uses of regional anesthesia of which 96% were in adults. Most cases involved the lower limbs (76%). Spinal anesthesia was performed on 32 patients, including four children. Incidents were infrequent (3%) and had no morbid consequence. Regional anesthesia may be a useful option in a multimodal strategy of analgesia, allowing early passive rehabilitation and recovery after surgical skin grafts. It should be assessed in outpatients, since 95% of burns patients are not hospitalized. Use of regional anesthesia in burn patients should generate more interest to allow the establishment of protocols in multidisciplinary reflection.