Continuous psoas and sciatic block after knee arthroplasty: good effects compared to epidural analgesia or i.v. opioid analgesia: A prospective study of 63 patients

Figures & data

Table 1.  Demographic data^a

	PCA (n = 21)	EPI (n = 21)	PSC (n = 21)
Sex (female/male)	16/5	14/7	11/10
Age (years)	68	64	69
(range)	(64–76)	(61–73)	(61–75)
BMI (kg/m^2) a	30	33	30
(range)	(27–34)	(28–35)	(26–34)
ASA-status I/II/III (n)	3/6/12	2/12/7	2/15/4
Diabetes mellitus (n)	6	7	3
Art. hypertension (n)	16	14	14
Preoperative therapy
with NSAID (n)	5	7	4^a

^a Results are expressed as median and IQR (25th–75th percentile) or total number (n).

^b Body mass index

Figure 1. Knee pain at rest (left panel) and during movement (right panel). NRS scores for pain in the total knee joint at rest and during motion during the 5 observational days are shown. Median/IQR (25th–75th percentile).

Table 2.  Postoperative opioid requirements (piritramide; mg) ^a

Time interval	PCA	EPI	PSC	P-value
0–4 h	6 (4–9.5)	0 (0–0)	0 (0–0)	< 0.001
0–24 h	48 (31–55)	0 (0–1.5)	0 (0–2.5)	< 0.001
24–48 h	3 (0–26)	0 (0–0)	0 (0–0)	< 0.001
48 h total	51 (40–86)	0 (0–1.5)	0 (0–7.5)	< 0.001

^aData presented are median and IQR (25th–75th percentile).

Figure 2. Patient satisfaction. Patient satisfaction during the 5 days of observation are given (1 = very satisfied, 6 = unsatisfied; median and IQR (25th–75th percentile)). The PSC and EPI groups showed higher patient satisfaction than the PCA group (p < 0.05 and p < 0.05, respectively). No significant difference was seen between the PSC and EPI groups.