Thoracic and lumbar paravertebral anesthesia in pediatric orthopedics and traumatology: A literature review

BACKGROUND: Paravertebral anesthesia is an old regional anesthesia technique, with a history of more than 100 years. Generally, paravertebral anesthesia is used in adults as a strong analgesic tool for pain treatment. Paravertebral anesthesia is not a simple way of inducing regional anesthesia, as it has several complications. Paravertebral anesthesia has been a serious contraindication in pediatric surgery. At present, technical progress in ultrasonography permits the use of paravertebral anesthesia successfully in children in orthopedics and traumatology practice by discovering new possibilities for the surgical treatment of pain. AIM: This study aimed to assess the current state and near-term prospects of using paravertebral anesthesia as a significant component of anesthesia in pediatric orthopedics and traumatology. MATERIALS AND METHODS: Study data were obtained from public scientific sources, which were searched in the PubMed, Crossref, Google Scholar, Scopus, and RSCI databases without language restrictions. The depth of the information search was 90 years (up to 1932). In this study, analysis and synthesis based on the information obtained were used to build an analytic conclusion. RESULTS: Various case reports and case reviews have described the experience of using thoracic and lumbar paravertebral anesthesia in pediatric orthopedics and traumatology, as well as reconstructive surgery and revealed that thoracic paravertebral anesthesia (in combination with general anesthesia) is currently the method of choice, competing with the thoracic epidural block and the high back straightening muscle block. CONCLUSIONS: Paravertebral anesthesia as the psoas compartment block with the ultrasonography control is the most reliable and suitable method of regional anesthesia for pelvis orthopedic surgery.