Cite as:

Editor’s Corner

Diversity of intellectual thought is an invaluable asset to organizations and to endeavors such as the newsletter. Whereas businesses embrace diversity to enhance performance metrics and profitability, we do so to cultivate and share a wealth of ideas. In our quest to provide you with engaging, high-quality content that is both clinically useful and thought-provoking, we welcome contributions from an increasingly global audience. In an era when content generation can be easily outsourced to large language models, it is the originality and insights of our authors and collaborators from around the world that truly shine through.

In this edition of the newsletter, we present articles from authors representing the European Society of Regional Anaesthesia and Pain Therapy (ESRA), the African Society for Regional Anesthesia, and the Asian & Oceanic Society of Regional Anaesthesia and Pain Medicine (AOSRA-PM). In the ESRA article, Dr. Steve Coppens and colleagues share how structured mentorship in regional anesthesia, international mentorship collaborations, and investing in individuals are building future leaders for our global field. Next, Dr. Espiu and her team highlight the role of regional anesthesia in improving obstetric anesthesia across Africa. They identify disparities in practice and barriers to improvement, while celebrating innovative successes and highlighting how teamwork at both the local and multinational levels is implementing evidence-based strategies to improve obstetric care across the continent. Next, a team from AOSRA-PM explores differences in the practice of conscious sedation for surgical procedures across Asia and Oceania and reviews strategies to enhance patient safety, comfort, and patient-centered care within the constraints of local variations.

From these global perspectives, the issue transitions to another frontier in the first of a two-part series, “Private generative AI for anesthesiologists,” written by Dr. Alwin Chuan from Sydney, Australia. While an increasingly high percentage of us are integrating generative AI into our practices and lives in a myriad of ways through commercial platforms, Dr. Chuan takes a step back to help us understand what generative artificial intelligence and different types of language models are and how creating our own private generative AI for clinical optimization is not only possible but accessible. By creating a private, domain-specific AI assistant, we can be empowered to enhance efficiency, personalize learning, and optimize the practice of regional anesthesia.

Next, from the editors’ desk, we bring a review of the first new medication for acute pain in over 20 years: suzetrigine. This first-in-class therapy received U.S. Food and Drug Administration approval on January 30, 2025, to treat moderate to severe acute pain in adults. As a community, we are beginning to sort out where and how it fits into our pharmaceutical line-up. We review what is known, clarify what remains uncertain, and offer guidance on how to integrate suzetrigine into clinical care.

Following this, the issue turns to the meat of our core clinical articles:

• ASRA Answers: Continuous Catheter Techniques in Regional Anesthesia—How Long is Too Long?
• POCUS Spotlight: In the field of point-of-care ultrasound, which is undergoing rapid expansion that requires intense learning, how should we define competency?
• Diagnostic Ultrasound: The Basics of Knee Ultrasound, the first in a series to help you with practical image-guided “how-to” content to apply diagnostic musculoskeletal ultrasound.
• How I Do It: Phrenic Sparing Shoulder Block, a technique for patients with limited pulmonary function
• How I Do It: Basivertebral Nerve Ablation for Vertebrogenic Pain, a true advancement in anterior column pain management
• How I Do It: Restorative Neuromodulation for Chronic Low Back Pain, targeting the multifidi muscles with an implantable neuromodulation system
• Curb Your Enthusiasm: Numbing the Pain, Not the Cancer: Rethinking Regional Anesthesia’s Role in Recurrence
• Literature review—a pulse check on the latest evidence

The issue concludes with interviews featuring our award winners—Dr. Marc Huntoon, recipient of the John J. Bonica Award, and Dr. Antuon Nader, Distinguished Service Award honoree—and a preview of the 2026 Spring Meeting. The 51st Annual Regional Anesthesiology and Acute Pain Medicine Meeting will take place in Phoenix, AZ, from April 16 to 18. 2026. Co-chairs Dr. Linda Le-Wendling and Dr. Steven Porter are curating an exceptional program where innovation meets clinical excellence!

And as always, I extend a warm thank you to the readers, authors, newsletter team members, editors, ASRA Pain Medicine staff and all volunteers who make this and every edition of the newsletter possible. Your contributions fuel our collective mission to advance knowledge and care in regional anesthesia and pain medicine. I welcome your feedback and ideas at [email protected].