Does Regional Anesthesia Improve Outcome After Total Knee Arthroplasty?
Total knee arthroplasty (TKA) is amenable to various regional anesthesia techniques that may improve patient outcome. We sought to answer whether regional anesthesia decreased mortality, cardiovascular morbidity, deep venous thrombosis and pulmonary embolism, blood loss, duration of surgery, pain, opioid-related adverse effects, cognitive defects, and length of stay. We also questioned whether regional anesthesia improved rehabilitation. To do so, we performed a systematic review of the contemporary literature comparing general anesthesia and/or systemic analgesia with regional anesthesia and/or regional analgesia for TKA. To reflect contemporary surgical and anesthetic practice, only randomized, controlled trials from 1990 onward were included. We identified 28 studies involving 1538 patients. There was insufficient evidence from randomized, controlled trials alone to conclude if anesthetic technique influenced mortality, cardiovascular morbidity other than postoperative hypotension,
