This issue of Anesthesiology Clinics brings the reader up to date on the most important advances in surgical palliative care for anesthesiology intensivists. Topics covered include recent trends and developments, palliative care of patients on high doses of narcotics, trauma in the surgical ICU, care of family in the surgical ICU, communication skills in palliative surgery, surgical palliative care in Haiti, and much more.

This issue brings the anesthesiologist up to date on current essential topics in regional analgesia and acute pain management, including the latest state-of-the-art techniques and drugs.? Subjects covered include prevention and treatment of local anesthetic systemic and neurotoxicity; complications of RA and pain management (medicolegal issues including anticoagulation, infection, etc.); assessment and treatment of post block neurologic injury (history, physical, investigations, EMG, NCS); new ultrasound guided techniques for peripheral nerve blocks and evidence based outcome review; emerging techniques and drugs for neuraxial and paravertebral blocks; local infiltration analgesia (for a variety of surgical procedures, wound infusions, infusion devices); continuous PNB in hospital and at home; recent advances in multimodal analgesia (new drugs & strategies, such as capsaisin, long acting opioid and local anesthetics); challenges in acute pain management (including the opioid tolerant patient, patients with comorbidities such as MS, DM and renal failure); economics and practice management issues associated with acute pain management; pediatric pain management; new concepts of acute pain management (including strategies to prevent chronic pain, opioid induced hyperalgesia, and more).