Regional anesthesia and obesity.

The potential advantages of regional anesthesia include minimal airway intervention, less cardiopulmonary depression, excellent postoperative analgesia, less postoperative nausea and vomiting, and shorter recovery room and hospital stays. These concerns are particularly important for the obese surgical patient. This review discusses the application of regional anesthetic techniques in obesity. Further clinical studies are needed to fill the knowledge gap about regional anesthesia and outcome in obese and morbidly obese patients.