Operating unit time use is associated with anaesthesia type in below-knee surgery in adults.

Background: Peripheral nerve blocks could reduce the operating unit and theatre time spent on high-risk patients who are particularly vulnerable to complications of general anaesthesia or have medications that prevent application of central neuraxial blocks.

Methods: Medical record data of 617 and 254 elderly adults undergoing below-knee surgery in Jorvi and Meilahti hospitals (Helsinki University Hospital) between January 2010 and December 2012 were used to investigate the influence of anaesthetic technique on operating theatre times and on operating unit times using flexible parametric survival models. We report operating theatre and unit exit ratios (i.