Safety and Efficacy of Continuous Femoral Nerve Catheter with Single Shot Sciatic Nerve Block vs Epidural Catheter Anesthesia for Same-Day Bilateral Total Knee Arthroplasty

In a retrospective analysis, we evaluated the safety and efficacy of peripheral nerve blocks (PNB) compared to epidural anesthesia in 221 consecutive patients undergoing same-day bilateral total knee arthroplasty (TKA). Primary outcome measures included: hypotension requiring physician intervention, number of blood transfusions, perioperative hespan and crystalloid consumption, incidences of respiratory desaturation, pruritis, urinary retention, and nausea/vomiting. The incidences of hypotension, urinary retention, and pruritis were all higher in the epidural group, compared to PNB. Epidural patients also required more blood transfusions and greater volumes of hespan and crystalloid. PNB are safe and efficacious modality of analgesia for same day bilateral TKA and provide adequate pain relief with a significant decrease in postoperative complications compared to epidural anesthesia.