Perineural anaesthesia is a useful technique in equine surgery,
providing pre-emptive targeted anaesthesia of the surgical site,
reducing volatile anaesthetic requirements, improving recovery quality
and providing post-operative pain relief. Surgery under standing
sedation in horses has increased in popularity, mandating the need for
effective locoregional anaesthesia and analgesic techniques. Nerve
location techniques offer greater accuracy than blind techniques when
placing injectate. These methods can help to avoid structures such as
blood vessels and minimise direct nerve damage during needle placement,
reducing the chance of procedure-related complications. This review will
discuss the most pertinent research in the veterinary literature where
objective methods of nerve location have been used to perform peripheral
nerve blocks in horses. The efficacy of using objective methods to
perform nerve blocks in equine anaesthesia is discussed by the authors,
providing useful information to equine anaesthetists, and potentially
improve the quality of anaesthesia and analgesia in horses.