Regional anaesthesia (RA) reduces acute pain, chronic pain after some surgical procedures, postoperative nausea and vomiting, and pulmonary complications. RA can reduce length of stay and improve operating department throughput. Although RA confers short-term functional benefits, these are generally not sustained. Combined general anaesthesia and epidural analgesia may increase the incidence of adverse cardiac events. Some studies have shown RA to be associated with a reduction in cancer recurrence, bloodtransfusion requirements, surgical site infections, ICU admission, and mortality; however, these associations must be treated cautiously.