Two continuous femoral nerve block strategies after TKA.

Purpose: The purposes of this study were to compare the pain score, systemic opioid consumption, and range of motion (ROM) between the group where the use of continuous femoral nerve block (CFNB) was discontinued on postoperative day 3 (POD 3) and the group where it was discontinued on POD 7 within an established clinical pathway for postoperative recovery after total knee arthroplasty (TKA) and to assess the treatment-related side effects and complications, as well as the functional status of these two groups of patients at 2 years after surgery.

Methods: This prospective, randomized, double-blinded trial compared the analgesic efficacy and the functional outcomes between group A (n = 30) where continuous femoral nerve block was performed until POD 3 (discontinued prior to the initiation of range of motion (ROM) exercises) and group B (n = 33), where the continuous femoral nerve block was performed until POD 7 (discontinued during the ROM exercise) after TKA.

Results: The resting pain scores of group B were lower than those of group A but there was no significant difference between the two groups (n.