Perioperative pain control after total knee arthroplasty: An evidence based review of the role of peripheral nerve blocks

Over the last decades, the number of total knee arthroplasty procedures performed in the United States has been increasing dramatically. This very successful intervention, however, is associated with significant postoperative pain, and adequate postoperative analgesia is mandatory in order to allow for successful rehabilitation and recovery. The use of regional anesthesia and peripheral nerve blocks has facilitated and improved this goal. Many different approaches and techniques for peripheral nerve blockades, either landmark or, more recently, ultrasound guided have been described over the last decades. This includes but is not restricted to techniques discussed in this review. The introduction of ultrasound has improved many approaches to peripheral nerves either in success rate and/or time to block. Moreover, ultrasound has enhanced the safety of peripheral nerve blocks due to immediate needle visualization and as consequence needle guidance during the block. In contrast to patient controlled analgesia using opioids, patients with a regional anesthetic technique suffer from fewer adverse events and show higher patient satisfaction; this is important as hospital rankings and advertisement have become more common worldwide and many patients use these factors in order to choose a certain institution for a specific procedure. This review provides a short overview of currently used regional anesthetic and analgesic techniques focusing on related implications, considerations and outcomes.