What is the role of local anesthetics in postoperative pain management?
When a local-anesthesia-based regimen is used in epidural analgesia, peripheral nerve block catheters, or local infiltration, it allows continuous analgesia, which is superior to systemic opioids. The beneficial effect of the infiltration of the surgical wound may be extended up to 2 days with available liposomal bupivacaine. Perioperative lidocaine infusion reduces the intraoperative and postoperative opioid need.