MedicalResearch.com Interview with: Jashvant Poeran MD PhD Assistant Professor Dept. of Population Health Science & Policy Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai New York, NY Medical Research: What is the background for this study? Dr. Poeran: Neuraxial anesthesia and peripheral nerve blocks  are two techniques for regional anesthesia for hip and knee replacements. Compared to general anesthesia, these two regional anesthesia techniques are increasingly seen as ‘higher quality care’ as a growing number of studies show that patients have better outcomes after surgery when regional anesthesia is used. However, less is known about the factors that influence the process of anesthetic care. This is important information because the choice for regional anesthesia might affect outcomes after hip and knee replacement surgery. We therefore used a large national database of health claims of hip and knee replacement procedures to study if specific patient subgroups were less likely to receive regional anesthesia. (more…)