Effect of nerve blocks on total knee outcomes

Editor's Note

Nerve blocks in total knee patients were associated with statistically significant reductions in length of stay and readmissions, but no difference in emergency department visits or in-hospital falls, this Canadian study finds.

In the analysis of 178,214 patients, adjusted:

• mean hospital stay was 4.7 days for patients with a block and 4.8 days without
• readmissions were 3.8% for those with a block and 4.4% without
• emergency department visits were 13.8% for patients with a block, compared with 13.6% for patients without
• in-hospital falls were 0.07% with a block and 0.05% without.

Though nerve blocks decrease pain after total knees, their impact on resource utilization have been unknown. These findings require further exploration in prospective randomized studies, the authors say.

A Population-based Cohort Study of Outcomes and Resource Utilization