Effect of Ropivacaine During Popliteal Nerve Block in Foot and Ankle Surgery

Overview

With the increasing rise of outpatient surgery in orthopaedic procedures, the management of immediate postoperative pain has been a major topic investigated, with the use of a peripheral nerve block in combination with general anesthesia being a commonly accepted method. Foot and ankle procedures, which offer the choice of several anesthetic techniques, have increasingly been performed with this method predominantly through the combination of general anesthesia with a single-injection popliteal nerve block to reduce the substantial acute postoperative pain that often requires large opioid intake within the post-anesthesia care unit (PACU). However, as a single-injection peripheral nerve block resolves off shortly following surgery, major postoperative pain, termed "rebound pain", can also arise, and has the potential to be even greater than that of patients who do not receive any peripheral nerve block with general anesthesia. The purpose of this study is to evaluate the contribution of ropivacaine concentration (0.5% versus 0.25%) of the initial bolus in continuous popliteal nerve blocks toward the rebound pain phenomena, or the quantifiable difference in pain experienced during the initial time after block resolution, in foot and ankle surgeries.

Conditions