Regional Anesthesia Is Cost-Effective in Preventing Unanticipated Hospital Admission in Pediatric Patients Having Anterior Cruciate Ligament Reconstruction.

Background And Objectives: Published studies have shown a benefit of regional anesthesia (RA) in preventing unplanned hospital admissions (UHAs) and decreasing hospital costs after orthopedic surgeries in adults but not pediatric patients. We performed a retrospective analysis to assess the effect of converting from an opioid to RA-based approach to pain management after pediatric anterior cruciate ligament (ACL) reconstruction.

Methods: The records of patients having ACL reconstruction were reviewed.