Continuous intra-articular local anesthetic drug instillation versus discontinuous sciatic nerve block after total knee arthroplasty.

Study Objective: Sciatic nerve block (SNB) is commonly used as adjunct to femoralis nerve block (FNB) to achieve high-quality pain relief after total knee arthroplasty (TKA). However, this combination is associated with considerable muscle weakness, foot drop and surgically related nerve injuries may be masked. The purpose of this study was to assess whether low risk continuous intra-articular anesthetic drug instillation is an adequate alternative to SNB when adding to FNB after TKA.