Patients who receive a peripheral nerve block during hip or knee replacement surgery are less likely to experience complications, according to a recent large retrospective study.
Researchers reviewed more than 1 million hip and knee replacements performed between 2006 and 2013 using data from approximately 3,000 hospitals in the United States.
Investigators compiled information on cardiac, pulmonary, gastrointestinal, and renal complications. They also determined the rate of infections, wound complications, and inpatient falls. In addition, they analyzed data on resource utilization, which included the number of blood transfusions needed, admission to an intensive care unit, opioid consumption, length of hospital stay, and the cost of hospitalization.
They looked at data for 342,726 patients who had hip replacement surgery and 719,426 who had knee replacement surgery.
Overall, 18% of the patients received a peripheral nerve block. They found the rate peripheral nerve block use among patients with knee replacement increased from 15.2% in 2006 to 24.5% in 2013. The use of peripheral nerve blocks was associated with significantly lower odds for almost all complications.
A strong effect was seen for cardiac complications in patients with knee replacement and for wound complications in people who had hip replacement. Similar patterns were observed for resource utilization, particularly in length of hospital stay among patients with hip replacement.