A COMPARISON OF 3 REGIONAL ANESTHESIA TECHNIQUES FOR OUTPATIENT KNEE ARTHROSCOPY

Purpose: The purpose of this study was to compare intraoperative condi tions and postoperative pain control of three peripheral regional anae sthesia techniques for outpatient knee arthroscopic procedures. Method s: Sixty patients were randomized to one of three groups. Group IA rec eived portal injections (10 mi lidocaine 1%), intraarticular lidocaine (20 ml CO2 lidocaine 2% with 1/200,000 adrenaline) and a placebo femo ral nerve block (20 ml saline). Group FNB received a femoral 3-in-1 ne rve block (20 ml chloroprocaine 2% with 1/200,000 adrenaline), placebo portal injections (10 ml saline) and placebo intraarticular Saline (2 0 ml saline with 1/200,000 adrenaline). Group FNB+IA received a femora l 3-in-1 nerve block, intraarticular lidocaine and placebo portal inje ctions. The following were assessed: intraoperative pain (10 cm VAS: 0 = no pain; 10 = extreme pain), surgical operating conditions (1 = exc ellent, 4 = unacceptable), intraoperative use of sedation and analgesi a, sia, time to discharge, patient satisfaction score (1 = very satisf ied, 5 very unsatisfied) and postoperative analgesia. Data were analyz ed using ANOVA, Kruskal-Wallis, and Chi-square tests as appropriate. P < 0.05 was considered significant. Results: There were no differences among the groups regarding any of the variables tested Considerable p ost- operative pain (VAS greater than or equal to 5) was experienced b y 20/54 (37%) patients. Conclusion: Any of the three anaesthetic techn iques tested provide reliable intraoperative patient and surgical cond itions for outpatient knee arthroscopy. Patient discomfort postoperati vely was considerable in all groups and requires further investigation .