ABSTRACT
PURPOSE: Authors evaluated the effectiveness of pain relief of the femoral nerve block in multimodal pain control protocols for patients with total knee arthroplasty in early postoperative period. MATERIALS AND METHODS: Seventy-six patients who underwent TKA under general anesthesia were enrolled in this study. Preemptive analgesic medication, periarticular multimodal drug injection, and IV-PCA were used for pain control in all patients. This single-blind, randomized controlled trial included 43 patients in the nerve block group and 33 patients in the control group. In the former group, the femoral nerve block was done by one author with a nerve stimulator set using 0.5% bupivacaine 20 ml and 1% lidocaine 10 ml. Pain scale was measured at 6, 12, 24, 48, 72 hours and 7 days postoperatively. In addition, amount of IV-PCA consumption, numbers of using acute pain rescuer, range of motion, straight leg raising, first ambulation time, and complications related with drugs were evaluated. RESULTS: Pain scale and the amount of IV-PCA consumption were significantly lower in nerve block group until 48 hours (p=0.04, 0.03), and the range of motion was better compared to the control group (p< or =0.02). The number of pain rescue medicines was significantly low in nerve block group within the first 3 days postoperatively (1.36 vs 2.58). The ability to raise a straightened leg was recovered more rapidly in the control group than in the nerve block group; this difference was statistically significant (12 vs 27.9 hours, p=0.02). There were no differences in first ambulation time and incidence of complications between the 2 groups. CONCLUSION: Femoral nerve block in the early period after TKA under multimodal pain control protocols showed significant improvement in pain relief and in range of motion, as well as a significant decrease in the requirement of IV PCA and acute pain rescuers.