In March 2027, the international regional anesthesia and pain medicine community will gather in Santiago, Chile, for the 7th World Congress on Regional Anesthesia & Pain Medicine (#WCRAPM2027)—a meeting designed not simply as another congress, but as a global point of convergence for science, education, procedural training, and collaboration. For ESRA members, this will be a particularly meaningful edition: a world congress with a strong scientific identity, an ambitious practical program, and a concrete educational partnership with LASRA that will bring opportunities for the European Diploma in Regional Anaesthesia (EDRA) directly into the heart of Latin America.
What makes Santiago 2027 especially compelling is the breadth of its vision. The scientific program has been structured around the major domains that are actively shaping the present and future of the specialty. On the regional anesthesia side, the congress will span the full continuum—from classic brachial plexus and lower-limb blocks to new truncal and fascial plane approaches, catheter-based care pathways, motor-sparing strategies, and regional techniques integrated into ERAS programs, ambulatory surgery, trauma care, pediatrics, obstetrics, and the management of frail or multimorbid patients.
Pain medicine will be equally prominent. The proposed scientific tracks include acute postoperative pain, persistent postsurgical pain, neuropathic pain, nociplastic pain, cancer pain, musculoskeletal and spine pain, headache and facial pain, and interventional approaches. Importantly, the program is not limited to traditional frameworks. It also looks ahead to rapidly evolving therapeutic models, including non-opioid pharmacology, ketamine and lidocaine infusions, targeted molecular therapies, neuromodulation, and integrative pain care.
WCRAPM 2027 also clearly embraces the idea that excellence in regional anesthesia and pain medicine is no longer defined solely by procedural performance. A major pillar of the congress will focus on education, simulation, and competency-based training, with content on high-fidelity simulation, structured assessment tools, immersive learning, serious games, virtual reality (VR), augmented reality (AR), and curriculum design linked to certification frameworks. In parallel, another core pillar will address technology, AI, and imaging, including AI-assisted ultrasound, decision-support systems, robotic needle guidance, tele-supervision, and the expanding role of advanced POCUS in both perioperative and pain practice.
This broad architecture gives the Santiago congress a distinctive identity: it is being designed as a meeting where cutting-edge science, procedural expertise, educational innovation, and systems-level thinking all belong in the same conversation. The proposed program also includes cross-cutting content on translational pain science, biomarkers, neuroimmune mechanisms, big-data registries, patient-reported outcomes, health economics, ethics, regulation, implementation science, and global health. In other words, this is not just a meeting about how to perform blocks better—it is a meeting about how the specialty evolves, teaches, scales, and delivers value across healthcare systems.
For many attendees, however, one of the most memorable components of WCRAPM 2027 is likely to be the workshop experience.
The planned pre-congress workshop program is a high-contact, immersive educational offering that combines lectures, sonoanatomy review, live model demonstrations, practical parallel stations, and cadaveric scanning and infiltration. All these activities will be carefully selected to meet ESRA’s accreditation standards.
This matters. Increasingly, Congress delegates are looking for more than passive attendance. They want meaningful access to faculty, structured skill development, and learning environments where anatomy, imaging, indication, and technique come together in a way that can be translated into practice. Santiago 2027 appears determined to meet that expectation. And, notably, the workshop framework is aligned with standards that matter to ESRA as well. LASRA workshops are in the process of being accredited for ESRA diploma credits, in accordance with established criteria, including qualified ESRA/LASRA faculty and an optimal participant-to-station ratio to preserve genuine hands-on learning.
This alignment leads directly to one of the most exciting developments attached to the congress: the possibility for participants to advance along the European Diploma in Regional Anesthesia (EDRA) pathway in Santiago.
For many clinicians across Latin America—and indeed beyond—this is a major opportunity. Hosting these components of the diploma in Santiago lowers practical barriers related to long-distance travel, cost, and language, while reinforcing ESRA’s commitment to educational outreach and harmonized standards.
And then there is the setting itself.
Santiago was proposed as a host city for its strong connectivity, convention infrastructure, academic capacity, and ability to support a world-class scientific event. The bid highlights the city’s international accessibility, robust event venues, hotel capacity, and proximity to simulation centers and anatomy facilities that can support advanced cadaveric and procedural workshops. It also emphasizes something more difficult to quantify, but no less important: Santiago offers the combination of a modern capital city with striking geography, cultural energy, and easy access to the Andes, the Pacific coast, and Chile’s renowned food and wine regions.
For ESRA members, WCRAPM 2027 should be seen as more than an invitation to attend another international meeting. It is an invitation to participate in a world congress built around shared standards, global exchange, and educational ambition. It is a chance to teach, learn, examine, collaborate, and help shape a specialty that is increasingly international in both its identity and its responsibilities.
In Santiago, the agenda will be scientific. The workshops will be practical. The diploma pathway will be tangible. And the message will be clear: the future of regional anesthesia and pain medicine is collaborative, global, and already taking shape.
Santiago, Chile, March 10–13, 2027
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