Local anesthesia

Local anesthesia is any technique to induce the absence of sensation in a specific part of the body,^[1] generally for the aim of inducing local analgesia, i.e. local insensitivity to pain, although other local senses may be affected as well. It allows patients to undergo surgical and dental procedures with reduced pain and distress. In many situations, such as cesarean section, it is safer and therefore superior to general anesthesia.^[2]

The following terms are often used interchangeably:

• Local anesthesia, in a strict sense, is anesthesia of a small part of the body such as a tooth or an area of skin.
• Regional anesthesia is aimed at anesthetizing a larger part of the body such as a leg or arm.
• Conduction anesthesia encompasses a great variety of local and regional anesthetic techniques.