Local and regional anaesthesia in dogs and cats: Overview of concepts and drugs (Part 1).

Pain management in veterinary patients is a crucial component of appropriate patient care. Multimodal analgesia that includes both systemically and locally/regionally administered drugs is generally the most effective approach to providing pain relief. Local anaesthetic drugs used in local and regional blockade are unique in that they can completely block the transmission of pain (in conscious patients) or nociceptive (in anaesthetized patients) signals, thereby providing profound analgesia. In addition, local and regional administration of drugs, when compared with systemic bolus administration, generally results in a lower incidence of dose-related adverse effects. Due to the potential to provide profound analgesia and the high safety margin (when used correctly) of this drug class, local anaesthetics are recommended as part of the analgesic protocol in the majority of patients undergoing surgical procedures or suffering traumatic injuries. This manuscript, Part 1 of a two-part instalment, emphasizes the importance of using local and regional anaesthesia as a component of multimodal analgesia, provides a review of the basic pharmacokinetics/pharmacodynamics of local anaesthetic drugs in general, lists information on commonly used local anaesthetic drugs for local and regional blockade in dogs and cats, and briefly introduces the novel liposome-encapsulated bupivacaine (NOCITA®). Part 2 is a review of local and regional anaesthetic techniques used in dogs and cats (Grubb & Lobprise, 2020).

Chronic neuropathic pain in veterinary patients.

Neuropathic pain is pathophysiologically distinct from other types of chronic pain and is defined by the Neuropathic Pain Special Interest Group of the International Association for the Study of Pain as "pain arising as a direct consequence of a lesion or disease affecting the somatosensory system." At least in humans, and perhaps in animals, neuropathic pain causes a much greater impairment in the patient's quality of life than is caused by other pain syndromes. And, unfortunately, this type of pain is generally quite difficult to accurately diagnose and even harder to effectively treat. A brief review of neuropathic pain and its treatment in veterinary patients is presented here.