RAPM editors have selected their top 10 most impactful articles from 2020 based on a variety of factors including Altmetric Scores (shown as graphics) as well as representation across the field from acute and chronic pain and regional anesthesia.

“Music versus midazolam during preoperative nerve block placements: a prospective randomized controlled study,” by Veena Graff, Lu Cai, Ignacio Badiola, and Nabil M. Elkassabany. Online first: June 26, 2019; doi: 10.1136/rapm-2018-100251

“Analgesic efficacy of adding the IPACK block to a multimodal analgesia protocol for primary total knee arthroplasty,” by Jason Ochroch, Victor Qi, Ignacio Badiola, Taras Grosh, Lui Cai, Veena Graff, Charles Nelson, Craig Israelite, and Nabil M Elkassabany. Online first: August 31, 2020; doi: 10.1136/rapm-2020-101558

“Chronic pain and psychedelics: a review and proposed mechanism of action,” by Joel P Castellanos, Chris Woolley, Kelly Amanda Bruno, Fadel Zeidan, Adam Halberstadt, and Timothy Furnish. Online first: May 4, 2020. doi: 10.1136/rapm-2020-101273

“Consensus practice guidelines on interventions for lumbar facet joint pain from a multispecialty, international working group,” by Steven P Cohen, Arun Bhaskar, Anuj Bhatia, Asokumar Buvanendran, Tim Deer, Shuchita Garg, W Michael Hooten, Robert W Hurley, David J Kennedy, Brian C McLean, Jee Youn Moon, Samer Narouze, Sanjog Pangarkar, David Anthony Provenzano, Richard Rauck, B Todd Sitzman, Matthew Smuck, Jan van Zundert, Kevin Vorenkamp, Mark S Wallace, and Zirong Zhao. Online first: April 3, 2020. doi: 10.1136/rapm-2019-101243

“Opioid use among veterans undergoing major joint surgery managed by a multidisciplinary transitional pain service,” by Michael J Buys, Kimberlee Bayless, Jennifer Romesser, Zachary Anderson, Shardool Patel, Chong Zhang, Angela P Presson, and Benjamin Brooke. Online first: August 26, 2020. doi: 10.1136/rapm-2020-101797

“COVID-19: bringing out the best in anesthesiologists and looking toward the future,” by Colin JL McCartney and Edward R Mariano. Online first: May 31, 2020. doi: 10.1136/rapm-2020-101629

“How Twitter conversations using hashtags #regionalanesthesia and #regionalanaesthesia have changed in the COVID-19 era,” by Eric S Schwenk, Kellie M Jaremko, Rajnish K Gupta, Nabil M Elkassabany, Amit Pawa, Alex Kou, and Edward R Mariano. Online first: July 2, 2020. doi: 10.1136/rapm-2020-101747 

 “PROSPECT guideline for hallux valgus repair surgery: a systematic review and procedure-specific postoperative pain management recommendations,” by Katarzyna Korwin-Kochanowska, Arnaud Potié, Kariem El-Boghdadly, Narinder Rawal, Girish Joshi, Eric Albrecht, the PROSPECT/ESRA Working Group Collaboration, G P Joshi, E Pogatzki-Zahn, M Van de Velde, S Schug, H Kehlet, F Bonnet, N Rawal, A Delbos, P Lavand’homme, H Beloeil, J Raeder, A Sauter, E Albrecht, P Lirk, S Freys, and D Lobo. Online first: June 28, 2020. doi: 10.1136/rapm-2020-101479

“Statistically significant but clinically unimportant: a systematic review and meta-analysis of the analgesic benefits of erector spinae plane block following breast cancer surgery,” by Nasir Hussain, Richard Brull, Jordan Noble, Tristan Weaver, Michael Essandoh, Colin JL McCartney, and Faraj W Abdallah. Online first: November 9, 2020. doi: 10.1136/rapm-2020-101917 

“Dose–response relationship between local anesthetic volume and hemidiaphragmatic paresis following ultrasound-guided supraclavicular brachial plexus blockade,” by Tiffany R Tedore, Hannah X Lin, Kane O Pryor, Virginia E Tangel, Daniel J Pak, Michael Akerman, David S Wellman, Hannah Oden-Brunson. Online first: October 1, 2020. doi: 10.1136/rapm-2020-101728