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Observational Study
. 2022 Oct 24;23(6):878-885.
doi: 10.5811/westjem.2022.8.57552.

Trends of Regional Anesthesia Studies in Emergency Medicine: An Observational Study of Published Articles

Tou-Yuan Tsai  1   2 , Hsin-Tzu Yeh  3 , Yu-Chang Liu  4 , Ching-Hsing Lee  5 , Kuan-Fu Chen  6 , Eric H Chou  7   8 , Jen-Tang Sun  9   2 , Kuo-Chih Chen  10 , Yi-Kung Lee  1   2 , Su Weng Chau  1   2
Affiliations
Observational Study

Trends of Regional Anesthesia Studies in Emergency Medicine: An Observational Study of Published Articles

Tou-Yuan Tsai et al. West J Emerg Med. .

Abstract

Introduction: Regional anesthesia (RA) has become a prominent component of multimodal pain management in emergency medicine (EM), and its use has increased rapidly in recent decades. Nevertheless, there is a paucity of data on how RA practice has evolved in the specialty. In this study we sought to investigate how RA has been implemented in EM by analyzing trends of published articles and to describe the characteristics of the published research.

Methods: We retrieved RA-related publications from the SciVerse Scopus database from inception to January 13, 2022, focusing on studies associated with the use of RA in EM. The primary outcome was an analysis of trend based on the number of annual publications. Other outcomes included reports of technique diversity by year, trends in the use of individual techniques, and characteristics of published articles. We used linear regression analysis to analyze trends.

Results: In total, 133 eligible publications were included. We found that overall 23 techniques have been described and results published in the EM literature. Articles related to RA increased from one article in 1982 to 18 in 2021, and the rate of publication has increased more rapidly since 2016. Reports of lower extremity blocks (60.90%) were published most frequently in ranked-first aggregated citations. The use of thoracic nerve blocks, such as the erector spinae plane block, has increased exponentially in the past three years. The United States (41.35%) has published the most RA-related articles. Regional anesthesia administered by emergency physicians (52.63%) comprised the leading field in published articles related to RA. Most publications discussed single-shot (88.72%) and ultrasound-guided methods (55.64%).

Conclusion: This study highlights that the number of published articles related to regional anesthesia in EM has increased. Although RA research has primarily focused on lower extremity blocks, clinical researchers continue to broaden the field of study to encompass a wide spectrum of techniques and indications.

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Conflict of interest statement

Conflicts of Interest: By the WestJEM article submission agreement, all authors are required to disclose all affiliations, funding sources and financial or management relationships that could be perceived as potential sources of bias. No author has professional or financial relationships with any companies that are relevant to this study. There are no conflicts of interest or sources of funding to declare.

Figures

Figure 1
Figure 1
Annual numbers of published articles about techniques for performing regional anesthesia in the emergency department.
Figure 2
Figure 2
Timeline of published research on regional anesthesia since first being described in 1982. The graph shows an increasing trend in the use of lower extremity blocks, upper extremity blocks, thoracic nerve blocks, and head and neck blocks by emergency physicians.
See this image and copyright information in PMC

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