Should We Go “Regional” in Intensive Care?

Pain is one of the major concerns in Intensive Care Units (ICU). The majority of the patients admitted in ICU experience a certain degree of pain during their stay. Opioid analgesia constitutes the main analgesic option for ICU patients [1].
Opioids are known to have serious side effects, some of them such as ileus, respiratory depression, which leads to prolonged mechanical ventilation, can interfere with the patient’s outcome can lengthen the stay in ICU and leads to iatrogenic withdrawal syndrome (IWS) [1, 2]. In the last few years, a new concept of pain management in ICU patients was introduced: opioid free analgesia (OFA). This concept implies achieving good quality analgesia without using any type of opioids, in any manner [3]. [More]