Nerve Blocks

Introduction: In the orthopedic field, local anesthesia for lower-extremity surgeries or nerve block methods intending pain control has been growing

Objectives: In this study, the appropriateness of nerve blocks in arthroscopic knee surgery was investigated. It has been informed that pain, anxiety and et cetera can increase BP by stimulating sympathetic nervous system. Then the appropriateness of nerve blocks for knee joint diseases was verified by relation of the pain during surgery, the anesthetic satisfaction, and systolic BP change during surgery

Methods: We studied the investigation by the medical records of the 94 patients who underwent the nerve block procedure on their femorosciatic, lateral femoral cutaneous, and obturator nerves before …show more content…
The male-to-female ratio was 41:53. Eleven subjects of the 94 subjects complained of pain and discomfort during the surgery, so they were sedated through intravenous injection of 3 mg of midazolam mixed with 100 cc of normal saline. Of the 11 subjects, three asked for a switch to general anesthesia during the surgery due to uncontrolled pain. The mean VAS score for the anesthetic satisfaction was 8.4, and for the pain during the surgery, 1.5. The mean systolic BP immediately before the nerve block procedure was 121.94; immediately before the use of the tourniquet (immediately before the surgery), 128.34; and during the surgery, 128.25. The mean diastolic BP immediately before the nerve block procedure was 74.56; immediately before the use of the tourniquet (immediately before the surgery), 77.51; and during the surgery, 76.69. As a result of the paired t-test using SPSS, the systolic and diastolic BPs significantly increased immediately before the use of the tourniquet (immediately before the surgery) from before the anesthesia, whereas the BP immediately before the use of the tourniquet (immediately before the surgery) and the BP during the surgery did not significantly differ (Table