Innovations in Regional Anesthesia and Perioperative Pain Research

Regional anesthesia and perioperative pain management have rapidly evolved into key areas of modern anesthesiology, shaping both surgical outcomes and patient recovery. The integration of ultrasound guidance, new pharmacological adjuvants, minimally invasive techniques, and data-driven approaches has transformed traditional pain control paradigms into precise, personalized interventions. As enhanced recovery protocols and multimodal analgesic strategies gain prominence, there is increasing demand for robust translational and clinical research to refine methods, optimize safety, and expand access to effective perioperative pain relief. Understanding and improving perioperative pain mechanisms also remain central to reducing chronic postoperative pain and achieving better long-term outcomes, making this field a critical frontier in pain research methodology.


This Research Topic aims to advance methodological excellence and innovation in regional anesthesia and perioperative pain management. By bringing together multidisciplinary expertise—from pharmacology and neurophysiology to imaging and clinical trial design—it seeks to highlight developments that enhance both mechanistic understanding and practical application. Submissions are encouraged that explore new anesthetic techniques, objective markers of pain, and technologies that improve measurement, precision, and prediction of patient responses. Studies employing advanced imaging, machine learning, or systems modeling to evaluate or refine perioperative pain interventions are particularly welcome.

Contributors are invited to address gaps in current practice, such as variability in block efficacy, patient-specific factors influencing analgesia, and the translation of animal or computational models to clinical settings. Collectively, these manuscripts will underscore the role of sound methodological design in ensuring reproducibility, safety, and efficacy in pain research and perioperative care.


This Research Topic welcomes contributions including Original Research, Review, Mini-Review, Perspective, and Systematic Review articles. Submissions should emphasize methodological rigor, novel approaches, or validation studies directly relevant to pain research methods within the context of regional anesthesia and perioperative pain.


Key themes may include:
- Development and validation of ultrasound-guided regional anesthesia techniques
- Pharmacological adjuvants and novel analgesic agents in perioperative care
- Mechanistic and translational studies on perioperative pain pathways
- Advanced monitoring, imaging, and modeling of pain and recovery responses
- Clinical trial design and outcome measures for perioperative analgesia
- Integration of data science, AI, or machine learning in pain assessment
- Safety, reproducibility, and standardization of perioperative analgesic methods

Submissions should align with the methodological focus of the Pain Research Methods section, contributing to SDG 3: Good Health and Well-being, and advancing state-of-the-art science that improves pain management worldwide.

Article types and fees

This Research Topic accepts the following article types, unless otherwise specified in the Research Topic description:

• Brief Research Report
• Case Report
• Clinical Trial
• Data Report
• Editorial
• FAIR² Data
• General Commentary
• Hypothesis and Theory
• Methods
• ... View all formats

Articles that are accepted for publication by our external editors following rigorous peer review incur a publishing fee charged to Authors, institutions, or funders.

Article types

This Research Topic accepts the following article types, unless otherwise specified in the Research Topic description:

• Brief Research Report
• Case Report
• Clinical Trial
• Data Report
• Editorial
• FAIR² Data
• General Commentary
• Hypothesis and Theory
• Methods
• Mini Review
• Opinion
• Original Research
• Perspective
• Policy and Practice Reviews
• Policy Brief
• Review
• Systematic Review

Keywords: regional anesthesia, perioperative pain, multimodal analgesia, ultrasound-guided blocks, analgesic adjuvants, translational pain research, perioperative outcomes, clinical trial methodology, pain measurement, patient safety

Important note: All contributions to this Research Topic must be within the scope of the section and journal to which they are submitted, as defined in their mission statements. Frontiers reserves the right to guide an out-of-scope manuscript to a more suitable section or journal at any stage of peer review.