Nerve block or
regional nerve blockade is any deliberate interruption of signals traveling along a nerve, often for the purpose of pain relief.
Local anesthetic nerve block (sometimes referred to as simply "nerve block") is a short-term block, usually lasting hours or days, involving the injection of an anesthetic, a
corticosteroid and other agents onto or near a nerve.
Neurolytic block, the deliberate temporary degeneration of nerve fibers through the application of chemicals, heat or freezing, produces a block that may persist for weeks, months or indefinitely.
Neurectomy, the cutting through or removal of a nerve or a section of a nerve, usually produces a permanent block. Because neurectomy of a
sensory nerve is often followed, months later, by the emergence of new, more intense pain, sensory nerve neurectomy is rarely performed.