Regional anesthesia
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Regional anesthesia · May 1995
Biography Historical ArticleRegional anesthesia and chronic pain management in the 1920s and 1930s. The influence of the American Society of Regional Anesthesia.
Physicians in the 1920s and 1930s began to treat patients with chronic pain syndromes using regional anesthetic techniques for both temporary and permanent block of pain pathways. The founding of the American Society of Regional Anesthesia (ASRA) in 1923 provided a unique venue for the dissemination of information concerning regional anesthesia for both surgery and chronic pain management. ⋯ The ASRA was instrumental in bringing together physicians interested in regional anesthesia and pain management. During the 1930s physician anesthetists came to predominate as the organization's officers and members and helped translate the work of the ASRA into a part of the knowledge required to be a specialist physician in anesthesia.