Ambulatory Continuous Femoral Nerve Blocks Decrease Time to Discharge Readiness After Tricompartment Total Knee Arthroplasty: A Randomized, Triple-Masked, Placebo-Controlled Study

摘要

An ambulatory, continuous femoral nerve block (cFNB) offers an alternative to the traditional analgesic regimen for patients who have undergone total knee arthroplasty (TKA). In contrast to intravenous (IV) opioid administration or epidu-ral infusion, cFNB may be continued after discharge using a portable infusion pump. The end point of ambulation ability afforded by cFNB has not been investigated in the United States, where the average hospital stay after TKA is less than 1 week. At 2 centers in the United States, patients who received a 4-day ambulatory cFNB were compared with control patients given an overnight cFNB for readiness-for-discharge criteria after tricompartment TKA.