Less is better: role of adjuvants.
Current opinion in anaesthesiology April 11, 2025 María T Fernández Martin, Servando Lopez Alvarez, Cesar Aldecoa Alvarez-Santullano 4 citations
This scoping review summarizes current evidence on adjuvants used in regional anaesthesia and peripheral nerve blocks, such as dexamethasone, alpha-2 agonists, buprenorphine, ketamine, and magnesium. Adding adjuvants can modify block characteristics and improve pain control while reducing the need for local anaesthetics or other analgesics. Progress has been made in understanding their mechanisms of action. In the last two years, publications on dexmedetomidine have increased, though interest in dexamethasone may decline due to only moderate evidence. Opioid adjuvants are also being studied more. All adjuvants show varying efficacy, but evidence for dexmedetomidine remains lower than for dexamethasone.