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FNB may reduce pain, hospital stay after pediatric knee arthroscopy
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Postoperative pain remains a significant problem in the pediatric surgical population and is related to not only prolonged recovery times, but also the need for inpatient admission. As such, there is a desire among pediatric surgeons and anesthesiologists to implement techniques that reduce postoperative pain and limit opiate-related adverse effects.
Regional anesthesia is a broad term, encompassing many techniques that ultimately render an area of a patient’s body insensate. Surgeries of the lower extremity, including arthroscopic knee surgeries, are particularly well suited for regional anesthesia.
Caudal epidural blockade remains the most common regional anesthetic technique in pediatric patients. In small children, a caudal block is a safe and easy way of providing analgesia below the level of the umbilicus.
While pediatric patients undergoing arthroscopic knee surgeries may greatly benefit from regional anesthesia, they are frequently unilateral procedures performed in older children, making caudal epidural block difficult and impractical. Ultrasound guided femoral nerve blockade (FNB) is an additional option which is also safe and easy to perform in an older pediatric population; and capable of providing more directed analgesia.
Click here to read the Surgical Technique in the January issue of Orthopedics Today.