Book excerpt: Comprehensive reference that covers the practice of regional anesthesia in its entirety, providing practitioners and students with both the physiologic principles and specific, state-of-the-art patient-management protocols and techniques. It provides algorithms for managing or avoiding a wide range of common clinical dilemmas or complications and time-saving tools such as intravenous-to-oral opioid conversion tables and PCA setup guides as well as no-nonsense selection of nerve block techniques and advice on their strengths and pitfalls. Helps the practitioner to make wise choices about anesthetics, dosing intervals, equipment, and perioperative management of patients receiving single-injection or continuous nerve blocks or spinal or epidural anesthesia. It discusses how to successfully manage patients with suspected epidural hematoma or neurologic injuries - and much more.