Delivery of Local Anesthesia: Current Strategies, Safety, and Future Prospects

Background: The systemic administration of anesthesia is associated with severe and undesirable side effects such as sedation, vomiting, nausea, allergies, respiratory problems, and neutrophil dysfunction. With the increase in the procedures of limb surgery, cosmetics, facial, skin, and cancer reconstruction, the demand for local anesthesia has increased multifold during the last one decade. Therefore, novel, safe, and cost-effective methods are being developed to deliver local anesthetics by the surgeons. Method: To prepare a comprehensive research report on anesthesia, we performed a structured literature search of bibliographic databases for peer-reviewed articles published recently. The studies of different articles were summarized and a deductive qualitative and quantitative data analysis was applied. Subsequently, a comprehensive summary of the analysis was used to frame this review article with ample examples. Results: A thorough analysis of the reports suggested that there have been tremendous developments of synthesizing nanoparticle-based local anesthesia drugs. The active targeting ability of nanoparticle-based drug delivery strategy can further help to deliver the desired anesthetic drug locally. It was also found that different local anesthetic drugs are developed into liposome form and show better efficacy in patients receiving anesthesia. Conclusion: The findings of this review article endorse that safe delivery of anesthesia drugs are essential for the safety of patients. Further, nanotechnology-based strategies are extremely useful for targeted delivery of anesthetic drugs at the required dose without affecting the neighboring tissues.