Regional nerve block for total knee arthroplasty

Femoral and sciatic nerve blocks have been used occasionally for unilateral total knee arthroplasty (TKA). In order to evaluate the effectiveness of this technique, combined femoral 3-in-1 and sciatic nerve blocks were performed in 20 cases of TKA, by the same surgeon. This surgeon also performed unilateral TKA under spinal anesthesia in another 20 cases. The anesthetic effectiveness of the two types of anesthesia was compared in terms of the time needed to complete the surgery, amount of intraoperative blood loss, and time interval until the first dose of analgesic. The results showed that the two types of anesthesia had comparable anesthetic effects. Ten of the 20 patients who had spinal anesthesia complained of postoperative urinary retention, while none of those who had nerve block had this complaint. Neither group experienced postpunctural headache, neurovascular damage, or drug-over-dose toxicity. We conclude that combined femoral 3-in-1 and sciatic nerve block is an effective anesthetic alternative for unilateral TKA.